


Power Rangers: Plus Ultra

by Carterson_the_Mortal



Category: Power Rangers, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Quirks (My Hero Academia), Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Bisexual Deku, F/F, F/M, M/M, Sassy Midoriya Izuku
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:29:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22984819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carterson_the_Mortal/pseuds/Carterson_the_Mortal
Summary: Years ago, the Power Rangers protected Japan from villains and monsters. Nearly 20 years later, only one Ranger remains, the legendary All Might.Now, a new team of heroes is rising to continue the Ranger legacy.
Relationships: Iida Tenya & Midoriya Izuku, Iida Tenya & Midoriya Izuku & Todoroki Shouto & Uraraka Ochako, Iida Tenya & Todoroki Shouto, Kirishima Eijirou & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku & Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako, Todoroki Shouto/Yaoyorozu Momo, Uraraka Ochako & Yaoyorozu Momo
Comments: 7
Kudos: 17





	1. Izuku Midoriya: Origin (Part I)

**Heroes are needed.**

**Super powered and fearless, the Power Rangers were symbols of peace who protected Japan from villains and monsters. Nearly two decades later, there is one Ranger left, and evil is slowly rising yet again.**

**It may be time for a new team of Rangers to rise.**

* * *

**I: Izuku Midoriya: Origin**

**Musutafu. Japan.  
  
**

“All settled in?”

With a small grunt, Izuku Midoriya slides his drawer to the wall. Wiping some sweat from his brow, he grabs his phone and takes it off speaker. 

“Yeah mom,” Izuku nods, but then he remembers she can’t see him, so he confirms, “all settled.”

He can hear his mother’s smile as she says, “Glad to hear. And you have enough money for the week? Have you figured out the train schedule? Have you—“

“Yes, mom,” he laughs. “I’ve got all of it taken care of. And _yes, my_ roommate and I are getting along great so far. He wanted me to tell you hi.” 

“Wow, you actually spoke to someone? Big improvement from when you were younger.”

This time, he laughs in earnest as she continues. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to help you move in.”

“It’s fine, mom, really.” He meant it. He knew how much she had been looking forward to this vacation, and didn’t begrudge her for it. After how long the both of them spent together before he headed off to university, this was nothing. “Be sure to take plenty of pictures for me.”

“Of course! I love you, Izu.”

“Love you too, mom.” Hanging up, the 18-year-old tosses his phone to the bed as his roommate walks in. 

“Hey, Mido, that Mama Mido?” Kiri flashes a smile.

Eijirou Kirishima is a lot. He’s a future sports medicine major allergic to shirts that don’t have short or long sleeves and is bursting with warmth like the sun, always smiling brightly in the four days the two have spent together. With crimson hair that falls down his face and plenty of muscle, he’s a sight to behold. (Not that Izuku would behold that sight. Kirishima is cute, but it would be wrong to cross those lines.)

Izuku nods. “She just wanted to check in with me before she got on her cruise.” 

“Lucky her. Just wanted to let you know that I gotta head to work, so I’ll be coming in late tonight. Don’t worry about dinner for me.” Giving him a quick fist bump, Kirishima leaves the apartment. 

For the next few hours, Izuku busies himself with different tasks. He naps and draws in his sketchbook, busying himself with sketches of his mom, himself, and even Kirishima at one point. Towards the end of the afternoon, he begins making sure his new room is perfectly clean and tidy. This goes double for his many, many, _many_ collectible figures of the red, yellow, and blue hero known as All Might. 

All Might, the legendary Power Ranger. Part of a team of Rangers that protected Japan for years: Hellflame, Snowblind, Ingenium, Nighteye, and Ryukyu. Izuku had memorized his exploits growing up, even more so when the other Rangers retired and he was left to fight all on his own. He’d kept Japan safe by himself with the help of the police for nearly 15 years. 

Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Izuku checks his phone. It would be another half hour before his pizza would be ready for pickup. Feeling the need to stretch his legs, he slips on his red shoes and leaves his apartment, his feet rapidly beating on the carpet floor as he heads inside the elevator. 

When the elevator finally reaches the ground floor, Izuku is treated to the sight of a man struggling with opening the door and holding onto his many groceries. Immediately the teen runs over to prop the door open with his foot and slide two of the bags on his forearm.

“Thanks for the assist, young Midoriya,” the older man says. When he’s finally inside the building, Izuku gives a warm smile to fellow resident Toshinori Yagi. Despite his fairly deep voice, the man in question is thin as a rail, with long lanky arms and legs. His shirt and pants don’t look like they fit him. Blonde hair hangs over his hollow face, but not enough to cover the blue eyes crackling with youthful energy. “If it weren’t for you, I may have been stuck there all evening.”

Izuku smiles. “It was no trouble at all, really. Do you need some help with those?” 

“If you wouldn’t mind?” Grabbing a third bag, Izuku graciously lets the older man lead him to the elevator. As the door slides shut and the elevator ascends, Izuku leans against the wall. 

_Yagi had been one of the first people Izuku ended up meeting in the complex some weeks ago. The two first came across each other while he was apartment hunting and searching for a place worthy of the famous Inko Midoriya Seal of Approval. Though he thought it was perfectly fine, his mother apparently had a better sense of proper living spaces than him. Ushered out by her so she could talk to (read: interrogate) the landlord, Izuku had spent the last 25 minutes in the lobby, continuing on a then-in progress sketch._

_Yagi was entering the building, several packets of instant ramen underneath his arms, and he happened to spot the artist as he headed towards the elevator. “Afternoon, young man,” he had greeted._

_Izuku had given a short wave, then looked up as he realized what he was seeing. “Do you think that’s enough ramen for you?”_

_Yagi chuckled. “Maybe. They had a hell of a sale at the store, and I just couldn’t resist.”_

_Izuku shrugged and had prepared to end the conversation there, but then Yagi looked down at his drawing. “I’m sorry, but, are you drawing the Flash?”_

_Izuku flipped the sketchbook over so he could see it in its full glory. “Hm? Oh, yeah. I was thinking of trying to do both the version from the current comics and also the TV show?” From there, the two had conversed naturally, talking about superheroes, the apartment complex, and eventually each other for another half hour._

_The two kept in contact, with the blonde promising to put in a good word for Izuku. Whatever he said apparently worked, and the boy had gotten the apartment._

Snapping out of his memories, Izuku examines the contents of the bags in his hands. “Is all this just for you?” he asks. He can see fruit, some cereal, crackers, and tightly wrapped meats inside one of the bags in his hand. 

Yagi nods. “ I’m having some friends over later, but mostly yes. I haven’t gotten myself any food in a little over a week, so I figured this would be a good time to stock up. I haven’t had a real meal in so long I’m nothing but skin and bones!” His smile widens. 

Izuku says nothing. 

“Anyways,” the man continues after the silence, “how was the move? I’m sorry I couldn’t help, but, work.” Izuku has no clue how much work can really go into being a guidance counselor, but the process didn’t really require much of anyone’s help, so it was a non-issue as far as he was concerned. 

“Yes sir,” Izuku replies. “I’ve got everything in place, and Kirishima and I are hitting it off perfectly.”

“Glad to hear. You boys let me know if you need anything. Don’t forget, I’m a superhero,” Yagi stage whispers. Izuku giggles when he winks. The elevator doors open, and Yagi guides Izuku to his apartment. After fishing out his keys, Yagi opens the door and instructs Izuku to leave the groceries on the table near the far wall. 

“How much longer until you start university, young Midoriya?” Yagi walks past him into the kitchen. “The bathroom is down the hall on the right for that bag there.0

“A little over a month, sir. I still can’t believe I made it into UA,” Izuku says. Grabbing the bag of toiletries, he walks into the bathroom and lays out its contents. He reaches for toothpaste first, ready to put it in the drawer--

_Izuku._

Izuku’s head snaps up. He turns around, but no one’s standing in the doorway. Shaking his head, he returns to his task.

_Find me! Findmefindmefindmefindmefindme--_

Without even thinking, Izuku leaves the bathroom. His feet guide him to a room--he thinks it’s the bedroom?--and a shelf. His hands open the first drawer, shoving past the numerous t-shirts inside until he finds what’s calling to him. A box with red, yellow, and blue patterns. 

Opening the box, Izuku gasps as he sees the most beautiful gem he’s ever laid eyes on. Rather than one solid color, it's a mixture of several; he can see red, blue, green, purple, orange, all of them inside this rock that can’t be bigger than an average rock on the ground. 

_Touch me!_

Gently, Izuku’s fingers reach towards the gem. It’s calling to him, begging, pleading to be held in his fingers. His fingers graze one of the gem’s edges as he begins to lift it from its case. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” 

Yagi’s loud voice is enough to break Izuku from his trance. Quickly, he shuts the box and quietly closes the drawer shut before turning around. Thankfully the man isn’t angry, if anything, he looks bewildered at this young man who just went rifling through his things. 

“Sorry,” Izuku says. “I thought I heard something outside.” 

Fortunately, Yagi doesn’t call him on it. Instead, he nods and walks inside the room. “The folks right below me have a dog, and he’s a chatty thing. Sometimes he barks in the middle of the night, just so you’re aware.” 

Izuku nods. His eyes take in the room; it’s very spartan and bereft of any personality. The only thing that conveys that anyone lives here is a wide poster above the TV of a younger Yagi and a group of other people. All of them are wearing costumes, smiles among all their faces--well, save for one, a considerably bulky man with dark red hair and a beard to match. In the drawing, a kneeling Yagi looks much healthier, having a well defined body with full cheeks and a smile so wide it almost encompasses his whole face. 

“You like it?” Yagi asks, walking over to Izuku. “I had it commissioned for my friends and I. Recognize the outfits?” 

It takes Izuku a moment for everything to click in his brain. The bright costumes, the flashy poses. The young adult knew them intimately. “Whoa, Mr. Toshinorii! You guys were Power Rangers!” 

Yagi laughs. “That we were, my boy! It was at a comic convention when I was just a few years older than you, and I managed to convince my friends to show up in these ridiculous things! It was not easy, especially for Enji,” one of his bony fingers points at the large man with a scowl on his face. “Took a lot of effort, but I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.” His shoulders deflate as he says, “It may be one of the happiest days of my life, looking back.” 

“You must’ve been a real fan of the Rangers back then, huh?” 

There’s a pause before Yagi continues. “How could I not be? You may be too young for this, but they truly were the best. They brought hope to the people, putting smiles on all their faces.” 

Izuku hums. He’d seen old video tapes of the Rangers from his parents growing up, in particular the one of All Might rescuing over 100 civilians single handedly from a collapsing building. “Every Halloween, and sometimes outside of that holiday, I would dress up like a Ranger,” the youth admits. “I thought that if I looked like them enough times, one of them would notice, and ask me to join.” 

Smiling softly, Yagi pats Izuku’s shoulder. “It’s not a bad dream to have, Young Midoriya.” 

After properly putting things away, the two sit at Yagi’s table and talk. Yagi recounts some stories about the Rangers from his youth and his group of friends in the poster: Enji, Ryūko, Mirai, Rei, Tensei, and Nana. The more they talk, the more light comes to Yagi’s eyes as he recounts his old memories. 

If it weren’t for a notification about his pizza being ready, he’s sure he would’ve stayed and talked with Yagi all night. A hug later, Izuku left his complex to get his pizza. Thankfully, it’s a short walk, and being late enough means he can run there without worrying about hitting anyone. (Maybe he’s a little winded when he arrives, so what?) 

Upon entering, he’s greeted with the sight of a boy around his age in an apron at the counter doing a crossword puzzle. His bright orange hair is neatly ponytailed, and his name tag reads ‘Kaminari.’ Looking up, Kaminari stands up straight and hurriedly slides his puzzle away. 

“Name?” He asks, like he wasn’t just slacking off. Izuku gives his name, and Kaminari brings his food front and center for confirmation. In no time, Izuku is handing over his money and has pizza and a soda in hand. 

“Got any plans for tonight, Midoriya?” Kaminari asks. 

“Nothing but to eat this,” Izuku grins. “I just moved in, so I’m taking it easy tonight.” 

“Hey, good for you, man! You definitely earned this pizza!” The redhead gives a pair of finger guns. “You have a good night!”

“Yeah, you too!” 

Food now in hand, Izuku returns to his apartment just in time to see a trio of people waiting at the door. From the way they’re standing impatiently, none of them are residents. “Do you need to get in?” He asks once he’s close enough. 

One of them, a man in a white polo and slacks, nods vigorously. “Good evening! My name is Tenya Iida, and if you would be so kind as to give us access to your complex! We have an engagement with one of its residents!” One of his hands chops the air as he speaks, his rectangular glasses somehow staying on his face perfectly. Despite how he talks, he can’t be any older than Izuku. 

Next to him, a woman with jet black hair in a red blouse and dark jeans sighs and runs a hand through her ponytail. “What Iida here means to say is that we need to get inside, and the person we’re here for isn’t answering his phone. Could you let us in?” 

Izuku nods and wordlessly hands over his dinner to Iida to fish out his key card. When the door unlocks, he props it open for them to walk through. Iida and the woman give thanks, while their third friend gives a grunt of what seems like approval? It’s hard to tell, in part because the sight of someone in nothing but a blue t-shirt and shorts in the middle of February is baffling.

“I’m Momo Yaoyorozu, by the way,” the woman says, and she points to her silent friend. “That there is Todoroki, because we know he _won’t introduce himself_.” 

‘Todoroki’ stares at Izuku passively. “Hey,” is all he says as a greeting. Split down the middle, one side of his hair is red almost as dark as Kirishima’s, while the other is a stark white. When he smooths his hair back, Izuku can clearly see the red scar that covers the left side of his face, contrasted by a sea blue eye. His right eye, unscarred, is grey. 

”Izuku Midoriya. I just moved in. Can you hit floor five for me?” The four shuffle into the elevator as Iida presses two buttons. 

“Floor five? You wouldn’t happen to know someone named Kirishima, would you?” Yaoyorozu asks as her hands hold the railing. Next to her, Todoroki leans against the wall, head down.

“He’s my roommate, actually. But, he’s already at work for the night, sorry. I’ll tell him you stopped by, though.” 

“Thank you, but we are aware, Midoriya! We are actually here for someone else in your apartment complex,” Iida says. He stands straight as a board in the elevator. 

The elevator dings as it reaches the third floor. “Thank you, Midoriya. I hope we see each other again someday.” Iida gives a short wave before departing. Yaoyorozu mimics his action, and it’s a moment before Todoroki finally says “See ya.” and joins his friends. 

That night, Izuku Midoriya has his dinner with no problem. That night, he gazes at the moon outside and smiles softly before turning in for the evening. 

That night, all he dreams of is a star. A single white star that shines bright in a sea of darkness. A single white star that calls out to him, repeating his name over and over again. 

A single white star that his hand reaches for, but can never grasp. 

**Elsewhere.**

The good thing about having the keys to a gym that closed after 9? You could stay as late as you wanted, you just had to make sure to clean up after yourself and leave everything better than you found it. Of the many things in life, Kirishima took this one to heart the most after about a month of being given a key to Gunhead’s Battle Gym. Whenever he worked, Kirishima was sure to give it his all, hoping Gunhead would notice. And he had, tossing the boy a key and saying he knew the younger was one of the most reliable people he ever met. 

This wasn’t something Kirishima flaunted to all his friends, many of whom no doubt would’ve tried to milk this privilege if they knew. There was one other person he trusted with this information, and it just so happened that he was spotting her as she did her bench presses. 

“C’mon, you got this! Give it all you got, be manly!” Kirishima barks. Ochako Uraraka was awesome. He had only known her a couple months, and he could say that with 100% honesty. Even if her brown eyes and sweaty face looked like she wanted to kill him right now. “You’re almost done, Uraraka!” 

With a grunt, she gives her final two chest presses and puts the heavily-weighted bar back in place. Her arms feel like jelly, and she slinks to the ground in exhaustion. Kirishima, bless his heart, is already by her side with her pink water bottle pressed to her lips. 

“Thanks,” she says when she can finally speak. She takes a hearty swig and rests her head in her hand. “Do you think we missed anything important at the meeting tonight?” 

He shakes his head. “I’m sure Todoroki or Yaomomo already texted us the rundown.” Like him, Uraraka couldn’t afford to take work off tonight for their group meeting. Somehow, the cafe was _busy_ on Friday nights, and she knew that was the best way to make money. With her hours about to be cut thanks to classes starting up in a month and a half, she took every shift she could get, both at the bar and the cafe. “Hope it wasn’t anything too serious.” 

“It was probably just checking in on our training,” Uraraka says. Kirishima can’t account for the others, but he knows for a fact that the two of them have been training whenever they can. “Which, clearly we’re both killing it at.” She flexes her arms and smirks.

”Hell yeah, we are!” Kirishima boasts. The two flex for a moment before he demands a high five, which she’s too eager to give. When her fingers smack his, the boy starts slowly rising into the air.

Uraraka, of course, doesn’t notice. She’s already turned around and started to love towards another machine. “Alright, I’m ready, what should we do next?”

”Uhhhhh, Ocha?” The brunette turns and sees her friend suspended in the air.

”Crap, sorry!” She steeples her fingers together and says, “Release!” Kirishima falls onto the padded floor like a sack of bricks. They laugh.

* * *

The next morning, Izuku wakes up nearly jumping out of his bed. He feels like he could run a marathon right now if he wanted to. Before he can even begin to ponder where this burst of energy came from, he hears Kirishima call out to him. 

“Going for a jog, Mido! Be back later!” 

Izuku is about to bid his roommate farewell, but then he thinks about it. It’s not a marathon, but...

Let it be said that Izuku Midoriya has not been to the gym or seriously exercised in quite awhile. While he was in decent shape thanks to learning martial arts as a kid and having to walk home to and fro school over the years, he was no Kirishima. His muscles didn’t strain his shirt, nor did he have a particularly impressive set of abs. He couldn’t even remember when he last jogged, which made it all the weirder that he had all this stamina. 

Several times during their jog, Izuku surpasses Kirishima, who gives it his all, but quite frankly can’t keep up. It’s only when they reach the stairs leading to the beach that both young men collapse, their breaths mingling together.

“I think my legs just died,” comes from Kirishima when he’s finally able to speak. “How are you so damn fast, man?” 

Izuku shrugs. Unlike Kirishima, he doesn’t feel terribly exhausted. “No idea. I haven’t really worked out since second year.” 

“Could’ve fooled me. _And_ without breaking a sweat?” Kirishima’s eyes narrow. “You sure you’re human?” He turns his gaze to the beach without waiting for an answer. Dagobah Beach was, according to Izuku’s mom years ago, one of the most beautiful spots. It was where his father proposed to his mother. But in the years, it became a place for people to litter their trash. From plastic bottles and clothes to a broken washing machine and even an actual car, the coastline was littered with years worth of garbage that kept getting more added to it. 

_Someone should clean it up,_ Izuku thinks before Kirishima leads them away. 

Not just content with running, Kirishima decided next up would be a good, old-fashioned workout. The only place to do this, so said the redhead, was at the most manly gym in all of Japan: Gunhead’s. The place Kirishima worked.

Never let it be said Eijirou Kirishima didn’t know how to market. 

In any case, after getting some water (and work clothes for Kirishima, since he planned to stay until his shift started) and taking a train, they arrive at the gym. As they walk through the automatic doors, Izuku is treated to the sight of a woman doing push-ups, oblivious to anything going on in the outside world. 

Kirishima walks to her and nudges her shoulder with his foot. When she looks up, she breaks into a smile and springs to her feet to fist bump him. Soon as Izuku walks over, Kirishima introduces her. “Midoriya, this is my friend ‘Chako! ‘Chako, meet my new roommate, Midoriya.”

‘Chako smiles warmly at him. “You can call me Uraraka.” She’s around his age, with mussed up chocolate brown hair, a pink shirt and slightly torn sweatpants. She’s cute. If Izuku was paying attention to that thing. (He kinda was.) “Kiri rope you into the gym life too, huh?”

“Yep.” Izuku pops the p. “All because I beat him in a friendly race.”

Kirishima huffs and walks to a room behind the front desk. “Go ahead upstairs, Mido, I need to talk to my boss real quick.”

Uraraka leads Izuku up the stairs. He figures she must work out a good amount, because she looks like she could carry and toss him with no problem. Studiously, he keeps his eyes focused on the top half of her body, even going so far as to look up at the ceiling when he feels them start to wander south. 

Thankfully, she doesn’t try to give him a sell on the gym, which is just as well because Kirishima comes bolting up the stairs soon after offering to take him off her hands. His method is more hands on; once they’ve finished stretching, Kirishima is taking Izuku through each machine, demonstrating their function and extending an offer to try. Izuku’s about halfway through a set of incline presses when Kirishima breaks his concentration. 

“Oh hey, it’s Iida!” Sure enough, it’s easy to see thanks to Kirishima’s pointing. Iida is running on a treadmill, legs flying in tandem with his arms slicing through the air. His glasses rest on the console, his dark hair is flying behind him. 

“Hello Kirishima, Midoriya!” Iida waves while keeping his stride. “Guess you’re on time for your workout.” 

“You know it, man! Don’t let us disturb you!” Kirishima grins and turns to Izuku. “Alright, now how about we _actually_ work out?

The next fifty minutes are some of the hardest Izuku has ever put in at the gym. Kirishima doesn’t work out so much as powers through everything, from chest presses to pull ups, squat machines, and cross cables. Thankfully, Izuku only has to do about half as much as the redhead does because, in his words, this was a regimen he made for himself, and he didn’t expect his roommate to match his pace. (Izuku’s not so busy doing shoulder dips he misses the “yet” hanging in the air when this is said.)

When the two _finally_ get around to a break, Izuku is panting on the ground, face red as Kirishima’s hair. His mop of hair feels like it’s become a part of his face now thanks to all the sweat. Next to him, Kirishima looks as winded, but smiling. 

“So, how do you know Iida and Uraraka?” Izuku asks when he can stop hearing his heart beat in his chest. 

“Well, I met Uraraka a few months ago at a cafe she works at not far from here,” Kirishima explains. He breaks off a piece of his granola bar and gives it to his workout partner. “She doesn’t like her job that much—I mean, it’s customer service—so I let her come late at night after her some of her shifts to blow off steam.”

“Iida and I, we used to go to school together. Didn’t really know each other, but he was the class rep for our class. When we both found out we were going to UA, we kinda connected and became friends.” Kirishima smiles softly, and even _that_ is bright, what the fuck. 

“High school, huh?” Izuku taps his chin, and then asks, “Does that mean he’s always done...?” He chops his hand in the air for demonstration. 

“Allllllllll the time. Now c’mon,” he grins, “we’re almost done!” He leads Izuku to a punching bag currently under use by Iida. His glasses are neatly tucked into the neck of his white shirt as he delivers a series of kicks to the inert bag. Izuku can see the muscles in his legs as blow after blow is delivered. 

“Looking good, class rep!” Kirishima flashes him a thumbs up. 

“Thank you, Kirishima! Would you like me to leave so you both can use this?” Iida unfolds his glasses and returns them to his face. 

“Nah, we can alternate! I think Midoriya’s about to die, so I figured hitting something for a bit would burn off any energy he’s got left!” 

If that comment came from anyone else, Izuku would’ve been insulted. But Kirishima is too nice, and he can see how Iida and Uraraka both became friends with him. He’s content to watch Kirishima wail on the punching bag for a few minutes, and like Iida, the power behind his strikes is evident. Those punches look like they would hurt, and Izuku mentally reminds himself to never pick a fight with him. 

“Your turn, Mido!” Kirishima proclaims with a smile. Handing his black gloves over, he steps back so Izuku can start pummeling away. For awhile, there’s nothing between the trio except the occasional word of encouragement from Kirishima or the grunt of effort from Iida while he does his lunges. 

And then it happens. 

As Izuku hits away at the punching bag, his mind is flooded with images. Images of a woman in the air, yellow cape pillowing behind her. A bald man throwing his hand out. Another man, this one large and blonde, blood dripping from his head as he opens his palm with a grin. 

A white star that shoots to the side and becomes red. 

Pulling his fist back and with a mighty yell, Izuku throws it forward to hit the punching bag with everything he has. His fist doesn’t just hit the bag, it knocks the bag clean off its hook and it goes rolling across the floor and almost collides with the squat racks. 

_Holy shit,_ Izuku thinks. 

“Holy shit.” Izuku feels Kirishima next to him, and his new friend must be just as confused. “How did you do that?” 

Izuku’s about to respond, really, but then he lifts his right arm, and pain shoots through it. He locks up instantly, falling to the ground and cradling his arm. He can hear Kirishima and Iida, but they sound muffled as he’s lost in a world of hurt. 

“Midoriya? Midoriya!!! Are you okay, man?!” Strong hands are on his shoulder now, helping him to his feet. “Say something!”

Gradually, Izuku speaks as he’s being pushed forward. “I’m fine.” He’s not. He feels like he just stuck his right arm in a furnace, and everything _hurts_. Things hurt so much that he’s briefly flashing back to childhood and all those times Kacchan decided to ‘teach him a lesson’ growing up.

“Follow us. Sit down,” Iida instructs. Only when he’s in a chair does Izuku realize someone must’ve gotten help. Uraraka has joined them now, a box of first aid in her hands. “Midoriya, can you let Uraraka see the wound?” 

Wordlessly, Izuku leans back and presents his arm. There’s a soft gasp, from who he isn’t certain, and he looks down to inspect the damage. Remarkably, his arm looks normal and untouched, save for some dark marks along the knuckles. He twists his arm and flexes it, and the pain has largely subsided. 

“Maybe you didn’t hit it as hard as you thought?” Kirishima rations. Never mind the fact that said punching bag is still laying over by the mirrors, its contents scattered along the floor. 

Iida doesn’t try to entertain that thought. “Are you sure you’re alright, Midoriya? One of us could take you to a doctor if you need it.” Uraraka nods as well, her hair bouncing with the motion. 

“I think I’m fine, really.” Izuku gets to his feet, slowly to make sure he doesn’t keel over. Once he’s sure he’ll be fine, he gives a thumbs up, though the trio doesn’t look convinced. 

“If you’re certain,” Iida nods. “Still, perhaps you should head home and ice your hand. Kirishima and I will help Uraraka clean up this mess in the meantime.” 

“We will? I mean yeah, totally,” Kirishima turns red when Iida and Uraraka give him both a look. “I’ll meet you back at the apartment. Don’t sweat it, man, really. Sometimes the equipment here breaks, is all.”

Uraraka shoots him a look _again,_ but Izuku is more concerned with leaving. Giving a quick farewell to them all, he grabs his water bottle and rushes to the stairs, looking at his uninjured arm the whole time. 

If he had decided to look behind him, he would’ve perhaps seen the look of knowing all three of them shared between each other.

* * *

**Somewhere in Yokohama. Later that day.**

There was nothing Kyudai Garaki loved more than to study. To take something apart, examine it, and see how its various mechanisms all worked together to create something wholly unique. Few things brought him glee quite like his research. 

Fortunately, where the scientific world had mocked him, called him deranged and a madman, someone appreciated his genius. A man with money to give and more power than Kyudai thought possible promised him what those weak foolscould not: plenty of research to conduct, and _plenty_ of test subjects.

Speaking of...one of his subjects was stirring in its tube right now. Unlike the others, this one’s tube was much more compact and smaller. To the average eye, it could’ve been mistaken for a clear thermos with soup inside. But there was no hot liquid food in there. A soft double tap on the chamber caused it to shake as the liquid inside shifted to reveal a large, round eye. 

The eye narrows, and a growl emanates from the tube. “What the hell do you want?” 

Kyudai picks up the thermos and brings it to his face. “Some good news, my friend! I’ve finally been given the approval to conduct some open field tests.” 

“Wonderful. Does that mean I get to leave this damn tube?” 

“If you behave, then yes.“ At the liquid’s growl, he continues. “It’s quite simple. If and when I let you out, you will have to do as I say, should you wish to keep your freedom. Are we clear?” 

The liquid sighs, eye shut as it processes the information. Then it opens again. “What do you need me to do?” 

Kyudai’s mouth twists into an ugly smile. “My plans for you will come in time. But until then...” He pushes backwards towards his computer and types in some commands. “Why don’t we start with one of the newer Nomu?”

* * *

Kirishima doesn’t bring up the punching bag when he returns to the apartment. When asked about the damage, the redhead shrugs it off and insists that it was fine, a new punching bag was due in the next few days, anyway. Izuku doesn’t press any further than that, the answer sufficient enough for him. 

That doesn’t mean things are fine between them. Over the next few days, Izuku finds himself spending a _lot_ of time with Kirishima’s—and now he supposes his—friends. Sometimes Uraraka needed some company at the cafe. Other times, Yaoyorozu wanted him and Iida to help rearrange her room. When she learned that he was an artist, she’d asked him to draw her, offering a sizable pay, given they were friends. (Which is why he took 10% off her original price.)

While he wasn’t the most popular during middle and high school, being friends with Kirishima seemed to change all that. Usually the two will work out together, where Kirishima adds just a _little_ extra weight to Izuku’s sets than he remembers asking, or taunts Izuku into running a _little_ bit longer. On the nights when all of them were free, the six get together to play board games or watch movies. Normally, none of this would bother Izuku, but sometimes he would catch one of them looking at him a certain way or he’d hear snippets of a conversation where he’s definitely the subject. 

After eight days, Izuku can’t take it anymore.

Currently, the six of them are in Todoroki and Iida’s “way too nice for two guys in their late teens” apartment playing Smash Bros., food and drink on the table. Just as Kirishima celebrates his victory and comes for a high five, Izuku doesn’t give him one. 

“Why am I here?” he asks. He fixes all of them with the best glare he can. “Why do you guys keep inviting me to things?” 

Kirishima laughs weakly. “What do you mean, Mido-bro?” 

“I wasn’t even in town for a week and suddenly all your friends want to hang out with us all the time! And you all look at each other like you’re in on some secret.” They all look at one another, which proves his point. “See! Like that!” 

Iida puts his hands up calmly. “Midoriya, I promise, whatever you are imagining is far from the truth.” 

“Then tell me the truth! I know you’re hiding something, and if you’re just gonna prank me, then go ahead and do it!” 

Kirishima sighs. “It’s not like that. I wanted to tell you, I did, after what I saw at the gym, but Iida wanted to wait and confirm before I said anything to you. He wanted to see if you could do it again.” 

“The punching bag?” Izuku groans. “I told you, I don’t know what I did! And why do you care?! So I punched a bag, big deal! You said it was shitty!”

Huffing, Todoroki stands up and puts his arm out. The two-toned man’s right arm glows blue, and suddenly a small ice shard is in his hand. It grows larger and higher until it nearly touches the top of the wall. Beside him, Yaoyorozu covers her face with her hands and mutters his name in exasperation. 

What. 

“What the--” Izuku points a finger at Todoroki. “How did you do that?” 

“He can do that because he has what’s called a Quirk,” Yaoyorozu explains. “And Todoroki was _supposed_ to wait until Kirishima explained everything.” 

“We did agree it should be Kiri,” Uraraka nods. Todoroki simply shrugs. 

“In any case...” Yaoyorozu opens up her palm, and it glows before a little matryoshka doll rises up to fit in her hand. It looks exactly like her. Next to her, Kirishima flexes his hand, and it morphs, becoming bulkier and much more jagged looking. 

What the hell. What the hell, what the hell, what the hell. It’s all Izuku can think as they all look at him like they didn’t just transform their bodies in weird ways. 

“Midoriya,” Iida begins, “can you keep a secret?”

* * *

Of all the things Izuku Midoriya expected to learn tonight, that his roommate and new friends were Power Rangers, was not high up on that list. 

After assuring Izuku that no really, there were no drugs he had taken--boy, was Iida _very_ quick to stress none of them did drugs--and that this wasn’t some weird dream, they sat Izuku down and explained everything. That they all wore bracelets with gems inside that gave them powers, called Quirk Gems. Kirishima could harden himself, Yaoyorozu could create things, Iida was fast, Uraraka could float, and Todoroki could make ice. (Maybe. He got cryptic his gaze frosty as the words escaped his lips.) 

“How did you get your Gems?” Izuku asks. Then he cups his chin. “ _If you’re Power Rangers, then it must’ve been fairly recent. So far, no news stories have come out about any other Rangers than All Might, and if you’re still working on controlling your powers, then you wouldn’t go out fighting crime until you were certain—_ “

It’s Uraraka who covers his mouth with her hand. “Sorry,” he blushes when she finally removes it. “Old habits.”

“To answer your question, we all acquired our Gems in different ways,” Iida holds up his wrist to show his white Gem. “I inherited mine from my brother, Tensei, as a graduation gift.” 

“I found mine at a garage sale,” Uraraka admits. She sounds embarrassed as she shows her pink gem. 

“A Christmas gift,” Yaoyorozu says, flashing her crimson gem.

“Skipping stones,” Kirishima grins. His red gem shines. 

“Stole it from my dad,” Todoroki replies. His is red and light blue, split right down the middle.

Iida continues. “Eventually, all of us found one another and realized we had the same experience. Where it felt like... the Gems were talking to us, in our heads. Can we assume you had a similar feeling?” 

Izuku nods. “When I first met you guys that night, I helped someone in our building with some groceries, and I could hear this voice. It kept telling me to take it.” 

“That happened to us, too,” says Uraraka. “What did you do?”

“Well, I barely touched it,” Izuku admits, “but I felt weird later that night. I felt...” 

“Different,” Todoroki supplies. He looks him in the eyes as he says this.

“Yeah. I felt like I could take on the world after I touched that gem. Honestly, I probably would’ve taken it if Yagi-sensei hadn’t caught me.” 

“Wait,” Yaoyorozu's eyes narrow. “Yagi? As in Toshinori Yagi?” Izuku nods, and she smacks her forehead. “ _Of course_.” 

  
  
Toshinori Yagi wasn’t what one would call easily surprised. He’d spent years of his life fighting monsters and villains and had seen some pretty strange things in his time. Men whose bodies were covered in flames. Women who could turn into dragons.

That said, never once had he been treated to several teenagers texting him all at once demanding he come to Todoroki and Iida’s home, and many of the messages in all caps. Despite how late it was, he complied without any fuss. And it helped that he was able to use his special talent to get there faster. 

“Ah, young Midoriya,” he greets. “What are you doing here?” He looks the others, clearly not expecting this specific teenager among the group.

“He knows,” Kirishima says. At the raised eyebrow, Kirishima clears his throat and flashes his bracelet. 

Ah. That. 

“So, they told you.” His eyes rake over each of them as he tries to suss out who Midoriya would learn their secret from. 

“Not exactly,” Izuku raises a fist, and it glows with green energy. Yagi’s eyes widen. 

“It happened after I touched your gem last week.” Izuku wills the green energy away. 

That explained the strange behavior the boy exhibited that evening. Privately, he wondered if the Gem had indeed chosen a new successor, but being able to use it as a Morpher a few days later quickly shut down those thoughts. 

“You should’ve seen him the other day,” Kirishima says proudly. “We were at the gym and he just knocked the punching bag clean off!” He wipes away a fake tear. “ _Manly as hell.”_

Yagi nods. That seems to confirm it, then. Without a word, he raises the wrist the bracelet containing his own Gem. “I assume the others told you about the Quirk Gems.” When Izuku nods, he continues. “All Gems chose their owners. For whatever reason, they possess the ability to determine a person’s inner worth, their ability to do good things. And whoever they bond with, they grant the user their power.”

“I have the Power Gem. It’s able to amplify its user’s abilities to peak potential. Enhanced strength, endurance, stamina. And for me, well....” The Gem shimmers as it morphs into a multicolored coin large as his whole palm. Yagi takes a deep breath and thrusts it forward as he utters three words. 

“It’s Morphin’ time.”

With a flash of light, Yagi Toshinori is gone. He’s replaced by a very large, _very_ muscular man in red, yellow, and blue. He laughs jauntily like he just heard a joke the others weren’t privy to. 

Izuku can’t help himself. _“A-A-A-A-A-A-All Miiiiii—“_ Five hands slap over his mouth. And just as well, too, because he’s not certain he can contain himself. He’s been living in the same building as the Last Ranger this whole time?! The hero he watched countless videos of?

“That is right! I am he—“ All Might coughs, shooting blood into the couch. Iida or Todoroki, no one is sure, groans in annoyance. In a puff of smoke, the legendary hero is gone, replaced once again by a still coughing Yagi. 

“You couldn’t have done that on the floor?” Todoroki asks without any real venom. 

“Forgive me, my boy,” Yagi apologizes. He takes a seat at said couch, making sure to avoid sitting on his own blood. 

“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me,” Izuku admits. “I barely touched your Gem.”

“That you were able to touch it and use its power must mean it’s chosen you as my successor. To follow in my footsteps.” He extends his wrist. “You once told me you wanted all your life to be a Power Ranger, young Midoriya, and it appears that time is now. Touch the Gem and claim your destiny.”

Awestruck, Izuku reaches forward. His fingers encompass Yagi’s wrist as the Gem glows. It glows so bright everyone has to shut their eyes. When it finally subsides, Izuku opens one eye. And the Gem...

Remains on Yagi’s wrist, intact. The blonde opens his eyes next, widening them in shock when he sees the change, or lack thereof. “I don’t understand. It should’ve worked.” 

The others open their eyes, just as confused. “I thought you said it chose him,” Yaoyorozu says gently. 

“I did,” Yagi responds, eyes not leaving Izuku. Or at least, he thought the Gem chose the boy. “You’re certain you touched it that night?”

Izuku nods fervently. To prove himself, he tries to summon the energy again, but nothing happens. That energy he once felt in his body is gone. “No, nononononono. I had the power, I did! I felt it!” He looks at them all with desperation. “I swear!”

After a moment, Yagi sighs and says the worst thing the young man could hear right now. “I’m sorry, young Midoriya. It could be possible that I made a mistake.”

No. No. Please, no. 

“Maybe...you can’t become a Ranger after all.”

Izuku’s heart shatters. He falls onto the floor shellshocked. When he turns his gaze to everyone, they’re looking at him with pity; even Todoroki seems sympathetic. 

“Oh,” Izuku says lamely. “Not Ranger material, I get it. I’m probably just not strong enough like Kirishima or Uraraka, or smart like Iida and Yaoyorozu, or...Todoroki enough.” He laughs humorlessly. “It’s fine.” He rises from the floor and heads towards the door. 

Kirishima walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder before he can leave. “Midoriya...”

He turns to look Kirishima in the eye, tears threatening to spill out. “Kirishima,” he whispers desperately, “ _please_.” His roommate sighs and gives him a big hug before letting him leave. 

That night, a dejected Izuku Midoriya cries the hardest he’s ever done in years. 


	2. Hero Rangers, Fear No Danger! (Izuku Midoriya: Origin, Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku throws a punch. Todoroki pets Kirishima. The Power Rangers return.

**Musutafu**.

**The Rangers**

“Alright,” Uraraka breaks the silence of their outdoor lunch with a clap of her hands. “It’s been two days. Can we please talk about it?”

Todoroki, Iida, and Yaoyorozu look at her with confusion. Kirishima is silent. “What is there to talk about?” Iida asks. He takes a bite of his sandwich and swallows, _like a gentleman_ , before continuing. “Yagi-san‘s Gem did not accept Midoriya as its new owner. An open and shut case.” 

“I agree with Iida on this. There’s nothing we can really do,” Yaoyorozu’s shoulders slump. “Yagi-san says our Gems choose us, but he never specified the merits of _how_ we’re judged.” 

Uraraka groans. “But aren’t you the least bit curious why? After all the time we spent with him, don’t you wanna know what we had that he didn’t?” Noticing the silence of their fifth member, she asks Kirishima, “Have you spoken to Midoriya at all, Kiri?”

Pathetically, the boy in question shakes his head. He looks miserable. “He hasn’t spoken a word to me except when one of us is leaving. And he’s holed up in his room when we’re both in the apartment.” 

Todoroki reaches over with his right hand and pats Kirishima on the head. Once he realizes how weird this looks, and how everyone is looking at him, he clears his throat and recoils it. 

“I just...” Kirishima looks at all of them as he says this. “How would you feel if your friends thought you were special, and then it turned out you weren’t?”

To that, none of them have an answer.

* * *

**Yokohama.**

Kyudai presses a button on his console, humming to himself in glee. Today was the day! He could finally test one of his Nomu out in the world. And he knew just the one to use. 

A pair of mechanical arms bring a large pod forward from a stack of them. Its door hisses open and fluid pours out into the drain. He leans forward to check on the pod’s occupant before burgundy bandages wrap around him and pull him forward to their owner. 

Subject 9S-02, Hoyo Makihara. 

All that mattered to Kyudai was the worth of each person’s Quirk, and to that end, Makihara was a boon. It was easy to enhance his already formidable abilities. Rather than simply controlling bandages and flinging objects in their thrall around, he now had a mental dominance over them, and could even create bandage minions of his own. But he couldn’t go about explaining that since he was, well, tied up. 

Makihara’s orange eyes narrowed. “Who are you? How did I get here?” The bandages loosen around the doctor’s face so he could speak. 

“I’m a doctor, I saved your life!” pleads Kyudai. Internally, he hoped the modified memories held up. Dying today would be so tiresome and push his research back. “You and your friends.” His head motions to the three other pods where Makihara used to be. 

“All of us, huh.” He steps out of the pod in full so he can tower over Kyudai. Gingerly, he walks to the other three and examines them. “How long have we been out?”

“Nearly two years,” Kyudai answers. “You all fought bravely, but. The Ranger defeated you.” Kyudai wasn’t given insight as to how Makihara or his accomplices came under his master’s possession a year ago, and when asked, he was simply told that when they woke and had questions, to point their hatred at All Might. Everything else would sort itself out. 

Makihara’s fists clench. All Might. Of course. Memories of the fight against the Last Ranger came flooding back to him. “And he’s responsible—“

“For all your conditions, yes. You were healing the fastest, so I chose to wake you. In time, your friends will awaken as well.”

Makihara snaps his fingers, and the bandages completely leave Kyudai, releasing the older man with a thud. He now towers over the doctor like a monster. 

“Tell me where All Might is.”

Sputtering, the doctor rises to his feet. _Just need to prod him a little bit more...._ “You can’t really be thinking of attacking him in this state. I’m not even certain you can walk more than ten steps!”

Makihara reaches behind his back and pulls out his short sword, pointing it at the doctor. “It isn’t a request.”

“And I wasn’t bluffing! Even with the work I did to your body, I still think it best that you sit down and—“

“Wait.” Orange eyes narrow in suspicion. “You did _what_ to my body?”

Kyudai tries his best not to grin.

* * *

**Musutafu. Dagobah Beach.**

**Izuku**

Izuku draws whenever he’s sad. Next to crying, it’s the easiest way to tell he’s in one of his Moods, so says his mom, the foremost experts on all things him. Drawing is a good outlet for him to get his emotions out, just sketching while he lets music fill his ears and everything else just fades away. 

The ironic thing was that despite the ever growing trash, the beach proved to be a nice, quiet place for him to draw without anyone bothering him. Unfortunately, the only thing his traitorous brain seems able to let him draw today is All Might, in all his rippling, powerful glory. It had been about a quarter into the sketch itself that he realized what he was drawing, and by then, he resigned himself to finishing it. The emotional wound was still raw, but finishing it would be preferable to it lingering in his mind. Just as he’s about to turn to another empty page and draw something else, he reaches for his phone and takes it off airplane mode. After it loads up, it dings three times, signifying three messages. They all come from one place: the group chat he and the others share that’s been quiet the last few days. 

_**Speeda Iida 👓:** Good afternoon, Midoriya-kun. I just wanted to apologize for what happened the other night. Despite what you may think, you are still our friend, and we all wish to spend time with you. When you are ready, we’ll be here. _

_**Ocha to the Ko:** Hey Mido 😊! Checking in, again. Sry you aren’t a Ranger 😔...but we still like you! _

_**Manly Man Kirishima 💪🏼:** Hey, Mido-bro. I know things have been weird, but I’m here if you ever wanna talk, man. That Gem doesn’t know what it’s missing out on. You’re plenty worthy to me ❤️❤️ _

Izuku reads each message, feeling like he has to respond. He doesn’t know what to say. What _can_ he say? In the end, he opts to simply send ‘Im fine’ and then put his phone on silent. He gets back to drawing. 

Maybe if he says he's fine enough times, it’ll be true. 

**Elsewhere in Musutafu.**

**Yagi**

In public, Yagi always makes sure to give a warm, welcoming aura, but today, he simply wants to be left alone. He’s giving as much of a hostile vibe as his thin frame will allow him, and it seems to work like a charm as civilians pointedly ignore him. 

Since the Gem rejected young Midoriya, Yagi has been stumped. This didn’t happen to him in his youth, even when Nana was still alive. That night, after the boy had left, he was at a loss for how to explain this to the younger Rangers. Why give the boy a sliver of its power and then take it away and _not_ accept him as the successor?

These thoughts had him up all that night, and continued to eat away at him over the next few days. He had seen what had happened when someone not chosen tried to take it; a drunken Enji goaded by everyone else years ago made a game effort, but it wouldn’t accept him. He was half tempted to use that as an excuse, but he had a feeling mentioning that fact in the presence of young Todoroki was...well, the boy took to the ice part of his Gem rather quickly, just leave it at that. 

_Perhaps...he hasn't proven himself yet?_ Before he can continue down that trail of thought, a scream cuts through the air. A group of people go rushing past him, fear etched on their faces. 

“It’s a villain! Run!!”

Yagi rushes forward, pushing past the crowd running in terror. Sure enough, there is a villain, wrapped in burgundy bandages and a black vest covering his torso. Behind him, several objects that look humanoid attack whatever they find, covered in bandages of their own. 

“Bring me the Last Ranger!” The villain declares, cackling. “Bring me All Might!”

 _Well, if he insists._ Young Midoriya will have to wait. 

Seeing an empty alley, Yagi ducks into it and takes out his phone to text the other Rangers. _Villain at my location. If you don’t hear from me in 30 minutes, show up. Disguised._

After hitting send, he pockets his phone and takes out his Quirk Gem. 

**_“It’s Morphin’ Time! Power of the Hero!”_ **

In a flash of light, All Might stands where Yagi once stood. The Hero crouches and bursts to the air, punching several of the villain’s objects in midair. When he lands, he makes sure to make it look as fearsome as possible. 

“I hear you were looking for me!” All Might stands and punches his fist into his palm to intimidate. “Well, here I am.”

The villain smiles underneath his mask. “That was faster than I expected! I thought I’d have to do a little more killing before you showed up.” The Minions all turn their attention towards him. “But now that you’re here, I can get right to my payback.”

All Might tilts his head. “...Say what now? We’ve met?”

“What? You don’t remember how you nearly killed us?!” He groans and grabs at his head. All Might takes this moment to study him, wracking his memory for any encounter with someone like this. But he’s never seen this man in his life.

In any case, the villain growls and turns his eyes toward him. “Lie all you want, hero, this day still ends with you dead!” The villain throws his arms out, sending bandages towards All Might.

  
  


**The Rangers**

Despite Yagi’s warning, the Rangers had no intent of waiting that long to see if their elder needed backup. The five of them assembled quickly enough, taking cover on top of a rooftop close enough towards the action, but far away that they wouldn’t be noticed. 

Yaoyorozu handed her literal self made binoculars to Iida. “It looks like the villain has some sort of Quirk that lets him control anything wrapped in their bandages.” Quickly, she creates a hair tie strong enough to keep her long hair in a large bun. 

Iida, his hair slicked back and glasses kept in his pocket, hums. “And it appears there is no limit as to how many he can control. All Might could easily be overwhelmed.” 

Kirishima huffs, the fake horns on his headband blowing in the wind just as All Might delivers a powerful punch. “I know he said to wait, but I hate feeling useless! Class rep, we’ve gotta back him up against this Mummy guy!”

“All Might gave us a direct order,” Iida says firmly, “and we’re not ready to fight anyone yet.”

“We may not be ready to fight, but we can at least help people get to safety,” Uraraka counters. Her words come muffled through the scarf covering her mouth. 

Todoroki cuts off Iida before he can object. “He said we have these powers for a reason. These people need our help _now._ ” Despite his black wig obscuring half his vision, the passion in his unscarred eye is enough. They all look at Iida for approval. 

“Alright, fine,” Iida relents. “We get the civilians to safety and block any incoming attacks towards them, _nothing more_. Clear?” He looks at each of them for confirmation. They all nod. “Alright, let's get to work!”

**Izuku**

Truth be told, Izuku did not know there was a villain attack until there was screaming just as one of his songs ended. Bolting up to his feet, the artist had rushed up the stairs and saw everyone running away. Instead of joining them, he pushed ahead to the source of the chaos. 

_You should run, too,_ his brain says. It sounds like contempt, like a voice he hasn’t heard in years. _What good can you do if you don’t have any powers?_

 _Shut up,_ Izuku says to himself. _There’s gotta be something I can do. I can still help people get away! I can—_

_Tch, you can be a corpse they find later, more like. You’re not a Ranger. You're not even a hero. You’re just a worthless Deku._

Someone twice his size runs past him and hits his shoulder, sending Izuku spinning before he falls to the ground. No one helps him up or even notices him. As he shakes his head and tries to recover, his vision is blurred. He looks up to see a large blob coming towards him and his eyes adjust just in time for it be a car, oh god moveyouidiotmoveyourlegs—

“Midoriya!”

Izuku looks up, and Kirishima is towering over him. His whole body is hardened, making him look like a rock monster. Even his voice sounds noticeably deeper. “You gotta move, man! I don’t think I can hold this car for long!”

Izuku gets up and moves to the side, allowing his roommate to thankfully let the car down gently. Kirishima gives him a once over to make sure he’s alright and satisfied, reverts to normal to give him a quick hug. “You gotta go, man! The others and I are making sure everyone gets out of here safely so All Might can fight the bad guy!” Before Izuku can say anything, Kirishima returns deeper into the chaos, body hardening again.

All Might grimaces as one of the bandages slices his forearm. What had seemed like an easy villain to face was actually anything but, not helped by the fact that civilians in the area meant he couldn’t go as all out as he likely needed to. And anytime he tried to take the fight away from the public, a bandage around his legs slammed him back to reality. 

In the background of their battle, he could hear the not-so-distant voices of the younger Rangers, and he hoped they were doing their best at evacuation. 

_Just a little longer._ He swats away two minions about to double team him. There’s a scream, and he looks back just in time to see Yaoyorozu tackle two teenagers to the ground before a piece of debris nearly takes their heads off. 

Unfortunately, it’s just long enough for a series of bandages to wrap around his whole body. 

Uraraka claps her fingers together and shouts: “Release!” The young girl she’d briefly suspended in the air falls into her waiting arms. She points a finger. “Are those your parents right there? Go to them!” She puts the girl on her feet and pushes her forward. 

“Hey guys? We got a problem!” Kirishima’s voice grabs everyone’s attention, and one by one, they look. Hovering in the air, covered in the bandages they’ve been fighting against, is All Might. The only part of him they can see is a single red eye glowing menacingly. 

“Shit,” Todoroki says for all of them. 

‘Mummy’ laughs. “You kids have some neat tricks, no doubt. But are they good enough against the greatest hero?” 

“What do we do?” Yaoyorozu looks to Iida. She’s nervous. They all are. 

Iida bites his lip. “The only thing we can.” His Gem glows as he gets into a running stance. “Let’s try to free All Might and defeat this villain!” With that, he charges forward, leaving dust in his wake. 

Yaoyorozu’s arms shimmer, and two bo staves appear in her hands. She tosses one to Uraraka, and the two go into battle. Uraraka nearly gets creamed by one flying minion almost instantly, but she’s fast enough to spin out of its way. Yaoyorozu dodges one coming at her and uses her staff to bash its head in. No sooner does she hit it does a Minion grab at her staff, attempting to yank it away. 

“Hands...off!” She does a cartwheel, taking her staff with her. Back in her possession, she thrusts it into the Minion’s chest, satisfied as it crumbles into nothing. She doesn’t notice as another Minion tries to come at her from behind... 

Todoroki is the only one who notices. “Yaoyorozu, look out!”

Just kidding, she does. Her fist shoots up, colliding with what counts as its face without her even looking, and then she puts her staff through that one as well. And she fixes Todoroki with a smirk. 

“Never mind.” His cheeks turn slightly red. 

“Kirishima, go low!” Iida commands. 

“You got it!” Kirishima rushes ahead of his leader, punching the Minions sent his way. He gets to one knee just as Iida jumps off his back, and the runner spins in the air. 

“I’m sorry, sir.” Iida brings a foot down, preparing to land it right on his mentor-turned-enemy’s head. But before he can get even halfway to his target, Mummy twists his fingers, making All Might grab the boy’s leg and throw him into Kirishima. The two skid across the street.

Todoroki follows up with a blast of ice, hoping to catch All Might unawares. However, the hero merely punches the ice beam, sending shards flying. Blasting himself forward, he’s about to do to Todoroki what he did to the boy’s ice...

But Uraraka reaches All Might just in time to send him floating into the air. Uraraka is joined by Yaoyorozu, who tosses her ally a gun and points at All Might. She fires the one in her hand, and rope shoots out, wrapping around his stomach. Todoroki shoots his gun, tightening the rope around the hero’s legs. 

“Kirishima! Iida!” Yaoyorozu calls for them both as they recover. When they come over and each grab one of the guns, she nods at Uraraka.

“Release!” Right as she taps her finger pads together, the three men bring All Might to the ground, _hard_. Upon landing, Todoroki summons ice to cover the hero entirely save for his jaw, rendering him immobile. 

Kirishima sighs in relief. “Oh, thank god. I did _not_ want to have to keep fighting him.”

Yaoyorozu nods. “Now, let's focus on defeating this villain.” As she utters those words, two things happen. 

The first is that All Might breaks from his icy prison. With ruthless efficiency, he backhands Iida and Uraraka into a car. He punches through the ice shield Todoroki tries to form, knocking the other three Rangers to the ground. 

Behind him, Mummy chuckles darkly, his fingers twisting again. “You should’ve stayed home, kids! Now you’ll just be casualties courtesy of your favorite hero!” Under his command, All Might lumbers forward and grabs Todoroki by the neck, squeezing his windpipe. The boy tries to summon ice to loosen the grip, but nothing is happening. 

The second thing that happens? Izuku comes out of nowhere and punches All Might. 

Clearly, the artist did not leave the battle scene like he was instructed. He watched, paralyzed with fear as his childhood hero fought and brutalized his friends. When All Might grabbed Todoroki by the throat, he whimpered. There was nothing he could do. 

No. No, that was wrong. He could do something. He runs forward as fast as his feet could allow, and he _feels it._ He feels that familiar rush of energy return to him as he yells and punches All Might so hard the bandages surrounding him come off. The impact catches everyone by surprise from how strong it is. Mummy is stunned, so much so that he fails to notice the car door that slams into him and knocks him unconscious. 

There’s a dead silence as Izuku’s momentum sends him and All Might flying into a wall. Dazed, but not that much, the younger of the two hurriedly removes the tattered wraps from the hero’s body. 

Opening one eye, All Might groans in pain as he sees Izuku hovering over him. “Young Midoriya...? Did you punch me in the face?” 

Izuku nods slowly, like he’s still processing his actions himself. “I...yeah, guess I did.” 

All Might lets out a chuckle. “Heh. That hurt a lot, kid.” And with that, he is gone, a now unconscious Toshinori Yagi taking his place. But the Gem around his wrist continues to glow, and green light shoots out, surrounding Izuku’s arm. 

The light subsides and on Izuku’s right wrist is the Power Gem. He stands up slowly as its energy courses through his veins, creating red lines around his body. 

_Incredible,_ Izuku thinks. He gets to his feet and stumbles toward the street, willing himself to calm the storm in his body. 

“Midoriya,” Iida gasps. He and Uraraka are both conscious now and walking towards him, with Kirishima not far behind. “The Gem. It accepted you?”

Izuku smiles and flashes his wrist. The light inside the Gem shines again, and strands of colored light wrap around the four of them. They’re all lifted into the air, covered in cocoons of colored energy. In his cocoon, Izuku sees an explosion of colors. Red, blue, white, pink, crimson, violet, black, yellow, orange. 

Green. 

When the light leaves him and he’s placed back on solid ground, Izuku takes a big gulp of air. He can feel power coursing through his body, making itself known by the green energy sparking from his arms and legs. 

Izuku turns to his friends, excitement on the tip of his tongue. In place of Iida, Uraraka, and Kirishima are three people wearing different body suits. One white, one pink, and one red.

They’re _Power Rangers_.

“Dude...” the Red Ranger looks at himself, then at his friends. “Look at us!” He whoops loudly and runs over to Izuku to hug him. “You’re the man, Midoriya! Or should I say, Green Ranger?” Izuku looks down at himself and sure enough, he’s in a costume of his own, forest green like his own hair. 

The Pink Ranger, definitely Uraraka judging by the enthusiasm, gasps. “We look amazing!” Next to him, Iida as the White Ranger gasps and runs his hands over his body. 

“Guys!” They all turn to the sight of another Red (Crimson?, Izuku ponders) Ranger and a Blue Ranger joining her. “Look at us!” The Blue Ranger hums in approval. 

”This is...magnificent!” The White Ranger finally says. “It feels better than I even imagined!” The six of them look at each other in wonder and amazement, briefly forgetting their now recovered enemy until he roars in anger. 

Mummy’s eyes widen in fear. These brats were Rangers?! He reaches for a button on his vest, then hesitates. He may not be able to take them all on, but he could damn well make something of it regardless. He roars to catch their attention. “So you’re Power Rangers. I’m not impressed.” He tries to keep the bravado in his voice and summons another army of Minions. 

Through his helmet, White grins. “Alright, Rangers.” He gets in a running position. Red hardens his skin. Crimson gives Pink her staff before creating a sword for herself. Ice crawls up Blue’s right side. Green balls his hands into fists. 

“Let’s send this Mummy back to his tomb!”

The Rangers run towards Mummy’s Minions. Together, they fight their way through each villain, using their powers for their intended purpose. 

Pink slides in between two of the Minions with her fingers out, sending them flailing in the air. It’s high enough for Blue to throw his hand out and freeze them in place, letting Red grab the both of them and smash them together into pieces with his hardened skin. Red goes for the biggest one next, wrapping his arms securely around its front. “Get me high!” Pink rushes over and taps him. 

Once they’re high enough--and she whacks away a Minion trying to go for her leg--Pink presses her fingers together. “Release!” In midair, Red spins them around so the Minion hits the ground first, creating a crater in the street. He’s not even giving the thing time to try anything as he beats it until it’s nothing but cloth in his hands.   
  


Crimson goes through each Minion coming her way, internally thanking her parents for having her learn sword fighting as a child during that one summer. As each one comes toward her, she thrusts and slices her way through each of them without a sweat. She feels a weight on her shoulder, followed by a quick “sorry!” and there’s White in front of her, using his speed to kick at a group of Minions that were making their way towards her. _At least he’s having fun,_ she thinks as she thrusts her blade up at a midair Minion. 

Scanning the battlefield, Green takes notice of Mummy, just far enough away from the chaos. With his arms out and cackling, the man looked like nothing more than a puppet master gone mad, pulling the strings of his Minions as they consumed whatever was around to form solid shapes and attack the Rangers. 

Darting forward, Green dodges everything that Mummy throws at him. All that mattered was taking him out, and the ever growing horde would stop. He’s nearly there when the villain creates a larger Minion that pushes Green back. Green digs in his heels, but he can feel himself continue to be pushed back. 

He won’t let that stop him. 

Being much smaller, it isn’t hard for Green to get out of the path of the larger Minion. He crouches and feels energy pool up his legs before he bursts forward towards Mummy in a dash of air. He curls his fist back. “Hero.....!”

Mummy’s eyes widen in fear, and he tries to create a Minion to take the hit for him. He fails. Green’s energized fist hits him square in the face. 

**_“SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!!!”_ **

Mummy goes down like a sack of bricks and flying across the street. The bandages hovering around his body go limp like sheets of paper. Green falls to the floor in exhaustion. 

“-ido? Mido!” Green blinks away his pain as strong hands bring him to his feet. He looks and sees the other Rangers have joined him. Once they’re certain he won’t fall to the ground, Red and White let go of him. 

“I dunno what you did, man, but it worked! Those mummy things just poofed into nothing!” Red claps him on the back. His helmet tilts down before he says, “Oh, shit, your arm.” 

Green looks down, and sure enough, his right arm looks like hell. The sleeve of his suit is in tatters, revealing a purple, bruised mass that he’s just now starting to realize is giving him pain. He ignores it as best he can and says, “Where’s Mummy?”

“Gone,” White answers succinctly.

Hushed whispers can be heard all around them, and the six of turn around to see a group of civilians coming forward, awestruck. Some take out their phone, some point, others simply gawk and stare at them. 

”There are new Rangers?”

“I thought All Might was the only one!”

“Did you see them? They kicked that villain’s ass!”

One civilian was brave enough among them to ask, “Who are you?”

The Rangers look at one another. Towards the front of the crowd, they see Yagi with a bruise on his cheek, looking at them expectantly. They’re the only ones to see his nod of approval. 

Through his helmet, Red grins. “Ain’t it obvious? You can call us the new Power Rangers!” He throws his fist in the air for good measure as the crowd bursts into applause. 

Pink looks to Green and asks, “Is this what you thought becoming a Ranger would be like, Midoriya?”

Izuku laughs and strikes a pose as best he can with his injured arm. “Pretty much.”

* * *

**Yokohama**

Stepping through the purple portal, Makihara lumps towards Kyudai and collapses at his feet. “You didn’t say there were other Rangers in the city,” he spits. “You set me up.” He clutched his side in pain and coughs. 

“Believe me, Makihara,” the doctor states calmly, “if I knew these new Rangers existed, I would have informed you. I would hate to keep you in the dark.”

Makihara is about to bite back with a response, but his body seizes up. He coughs into his hand and when he pulls back, it’s bloody. “ _Fuck_ ,” he sighs. That kid nearly killed him with that punch. 

“That doesn’t look good,” Kyudai states. He’s not bothered by the orange-eyed glare thrown his way. “You will need to get back into the pod and heal your wounds. You were already fairly injured from the fight a year ago. This likely didn’t help.”

Sighing, Makihara concedes. He’s right, and there’s no point in arguing it. Annoyed, he lets the doctor place him back in his pod, and shuts his eyes. Before he falls unconscious, he thinks of his three teammates. _Hope you’re ready, Rangers. When Nine hears about you, you’ll wish you stayed in hiding._

* * *

**Musutafu. Later.**

After the many pictures and videos taken, the Rangers had tried to bid their enthusiastic audience farewell. That, in and of itself, took nearly an hour thanks to persistent fans who crowded them and began asking questions, asked them to use their powers, and even tried pulling off their helmets. 

Needless to say, it was an eventful evening. 

Eventually, the six had depowered and returned to their regular selves, after which they returned to Todoroki and Iida’s with Yagi to rest. 

Yagi chuckles nervously. “I suppose I forgot to mention some things about the Power Gem.”

“Oh, you mean I’m _not_ supposed to nearly shatter my arm?” Izuku asks dryly. It’s in a makeshift sling courtesy of a shirt left behind from the crowd. 

“The Power Gem amplifies one’s natural strength and abilities. I think that because our transfer was still fairly recent, my power became yours briefly, and, well.” He gestures at the bruised limb. 

Izuku nods. “Well, I guess that explains my stamina last week, and the punching bag. _Since I only touched the Gem, I maybe had a percent of its power in me. Hitting Mummy must’ve been at least 30%; no, more, given the overall impact—“_

Yaoyorozu clears her throat. She puts a palm out and after a quick shimmer, there’s a small bottle filled with a clear liquid inside. She puts it in Izuku’s hand before untying his sling. 

“They’re called Recovery Kisses,” she explains as she lightly shakes the bottle. “Yagi-sensei taught me how to make it when I was first starting to learn my Quirk.” She has him stretch his injured arm out and pours the liquid on it. Hand, then elbow, then shoulder. In no time, the bruising is significantly lighter, and he twists it around slowly. “Sorry, but I can’t do anything about the scars.” 

Satisfied, Izuku smiles at her. “Don’t be. This is amazing!” From there, they had taken turns belting out effusive praise to one another.

“Dude, that was so cool! The way you floated and then came down from the air!”

“You were so amazing with that sword! It was the most graceful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Oh, it was nothing. Honestly, Iida did all the work.”

“Good job with...hitting things.”

Their gushing of one another was broken by a loud whistle from Yagi. Everyone turns their attention to him as he turned down the music. “I just wanted to say how proud I am of all of you. You saved lives, fought your first villain, and achieved your first Morph.” He looks into each of their eyes. “You should all be proud. I look forward to seeing what you’ll all do together.”

Singling out Izuku, Yagi continues. “And speaking of together...young Midoriya. Just days after being told you weren’t worthy of being a Ranger, that this great power made a mistake, you didn’t let that stop you. You went into the fray to help people and save your friends. And give a hell of a punch.” He rubs his cheek, to everyone’s laughter and his subject’s embarrassment. “And now, thanks to you, our team is complete.” 

“I’ve never been more proud to be wrong.” Yagi smiles wistfully. “And I know that you’ll all make me proud.”

That does it. It’s enough to push Izuku over the edge and finally cry, getting to his knees as tears stream down his face. 

Everyone else looks at him with concern. “Do you...do that a lot?” Todoroki asks, blunt as always. 

“Ah, let him,” Kirishima grins. “It’s manly to show your emotions, bro.” Still crying, Izuku gives a thumbs up. They could make fun of his crying all they wanted. 

Far as he was concerned, this was the best day of his life. 

* * *

Somewhere in Japan, two people in two separate locations watch the news footage of the Power Rangers. Neither of them know of the other. 

One of them hums, eyes half-lidded but acutely watching all of them in action. His eyes focus on the Green Ranger in particular.   
  


The second person watches the Rangers in action and sneers. He would’ve beaten the villain in no time, all on his own. They were pathetic. 

He’d show those D-listers who the top Ranger was soon enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaand here’s chapter two. Took some time to figure things out, but I’m pleased with how this turned out.
> 
> I’m sure you’ll be able to guess who the two folks at the very end are. 
> 
> I’m sure some of you are curious about why I used Mummy over the Sludge monster, and that’s for two reasons. The first is that, quite frankly, I wanna use Nine’s gang first since they were fairly recent and I’m not as afraid of bumping up against their canon as I am with the League or Stain.
> 
> The second is that, again to be frank, I needed someone who could give all six of them a threat as a team on their own, since easily disposable mindless henchmen aren’t really a thing in the MHA universe. 
> 
> In any case, I’m excited to keep this going. If you’ve got questions or comments, air them out below!


	3. It’s Morphin Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uraraka has ideas. Izuku throws a ball. Todoroki has theories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you really a Ranger team if you don’t do a flashy as fuck group morph? No, you’re really not. Truth be told, this sequence is the first thing I really wrote for this, and I love it.

Things were strange now. 

After returning to the apartment with Kirishima late into the night, the newly minted Green Ranger found slumber hard to come by. The Power Gem was true to its name, because he felt like time no longer mattered. Near 1 am and with repeated efforts, sleep finally came, his dreams absent of that star. 

Around 7:30, Izuku wakes up, and it’s a weird feeling. He’s so _wired_ and it still feels like there’s a bunch of energy in him that just can’t be burned off. 

Since he’s awake, he figures he may as well try to figure out how his Gem works to avoid shattering his arm. Getting out of bed, quietly, out of respect for his roommate, Izuku closes his eyes and summons the Gem’s power within him. He thinks of an egg in a microwave at full power, visualizing it staying together despite the heat. His mind’s eye focuses on that image, burning it into his brain, an—

The egg explodes. 

“Crap,” he mutters. He closes his eyes and focuses on the egg again. He can feel the energy coursing through his limbs—

The egg explodes. Again. 

He closes his eyes—  
  


You get the idea. 

Frustrated, Izuku paces back and forth around his room. Maybe...maybe the problem was that he was trying to be instantaneous with it. _If I had one or two percent when I only touched the Gem, and I was at 100% yesterday at the fight..._ He snaps his fingers; the solution is obvious. He has to use the Gem in increments until he’s positive the full power won’t destroy his body. 

Taking a deep breath, Izuku again focuses on channeling the Gem’s power. (After delivering two powerful punches, it made sense to him.) He ignores the electricity around his body, focused just on letting it settle in his arms. Next, he directs the energy to his hands. 

He lets the power settle in a little longer before turning it off completely. This method is repeated, the power activated and deactivated at will, arms then hands, and vice versa. After 20 minutes, he isn’t ready to go around punching buildings, but at the very least, he thinks he could throw a punch and not blow his arm to pieces.

...Maybe. 

His phone beeps; it’s almost time to get ready for work. Shutting off the alarm, Izuku mentally files away the progress he made this morning. _Egg in the microwave,_ he thinks as he walks to the bathroom, _Egg in the microwave._

* * *

**Momo & Ochako** _  
_

“Yaomomo, look! It’s only been a day, and we’re famous!” Uraraka beams. Once the car stops at a light, she thrusts her phone towards the black-haired girl’s face. (Yaoyorozu, luckily, backs away before it hits her right in the face.)

“‘Villain Attack Leads to Debut of New Power Rangers’,” Yaoyorozu reads. Passing the phone back to its owner, she smiles before taking a right turn at the intersection. “I won’t lie, I didn’t think our official debut would be quite like this, but I’m glad at how it turned out.” 

“Yeah! Now all we have to do is beat bad guys and constantly be in the news cycle! Eventually, corporations will notice us and get into a bidding war over our merchandising rights!” The Pink Ranger’s eyes sparkle like stars, and she lets out a loud squeal. Momo laughs, despite how utterly ridiculous it sounds. 

“But, how would they pay us?” Momo asks gently. 

“Yaomomoooooooo,” whines Uraraka, “you’re missing the point! If they make merchandise of us like Gravity Perfume or IcyHot candy, then that means we’ll get even _more_ money when they make movies about us!”

“You think Todoroki would be on candy?” Momo’s not even going to begin to question what gravity _smells_ like in her friend’s mind. “You’ve thought about this a lot, huh?”

Uraraka’s cheeks turn pink, and she looks away. “I mean, kinda? I just know that it wouldn’t hurt to get money from this...”

Yaoyorozu winces. Right. Anything related to money was something she had to remember to never bring up around Uraraka. She’s about to apologize, but thinks better of it. Instead, she smiles and says, “Maybe you can do photo shoots.” 

At this, her friend brightens up. “I could! Oooh, I bet Aoyama would love that....” As she continues, Yaoyorozu resumes their drive to the supermarket. It’s an otherwise uneventful trek.

At least until two guys slide over the hood of her car, bags that definitely don’t look like theirs slung across their backs. And if that weren’t obvious, maybe the screams and crying children were a dead giveaway. 

Both girls look at each other. With a nod, Uraraka unbuckles her seatbelt and leaves the car, breaking into a sprint. She quickly calls out to Yaoyorozu, “I’ve got an eye on them!” 

“Text me your location! I’ll circle back around in a moment and meet you there!” 

By no means is Uraraka the best runner in their group--that would go to Iida, naturally--but she keeps pace with the muggers and doesn’t lose sight of them as they round into a corner. She skids to a halt and texts her location, then crosses the threshold into the alleyway. 

Instantly, she’s grabbed and slammed into the wall. The mugger holding her gives a sick grin, revealing a missing front tooth. “Nice try, kid, but we weren’t born yesterday.” He sneers and throws her to the ground. Him and his accomplice chuckle. “You should’ve minded your own damn business.” 

Uraraka reaches for her Gem, hoping it’ll shimmer like it did yesterday. _C’mon, c’mon! Let me morph!_ Nothing happens. A light doesn’t even try to emerge from it. Annoyed, she gets to her feet and takes a fighting stance. Maybe she can last long enough for Yaomomo to show up. 

The two muggers take a step towards her, and Uraraka is ready to throw the first punch. Instead, she doesn’t have to because they both go down like a sack of bricks. Behind them is Yaoyorozu, holding two tasers that have just been fired. “I already called the police. You alright?” 

Giving a thumbs up, Uraraka walks over and grabs the bags the two muggers stole. “Better now that you’re here. But,” She raises her wrist to show her Gem. “I couldn’t morph.”

Her more studious friend looks at her quizzically, then raises her own wrist to try. “That’s weird, I can’t either. We were perfectly able to do so yesterday. I wonder what changed?” She gaps, and both girls look at each other in recognition. “We can’t morph because of---”

* * *

“Midoriya!” Iida chops his hand right on the island of his kitchen table.

**Iida & Todoroki**

He hisses at the pain. “Yowch! As I was saying, Todoroki, I think we did quite well for our first mission yesterday. The power I felt as a Ranger was simply invigorating! How did it feel for you?” 

Todoroki ponders the question for a moment. What can he say? How can he describe how he felt both more sure of himself and yet completely terrified at the same time? What way is there truly to convey the cold, yet hot passion he felt in that moment suited up with his teammates? 

After swallowing his cereal, he says: “It was good.” 

“I’m glad to hear that!” Satisfied, Iida continues cutting into his waffles. “The next time we meet, I’ll have to ask Midoriya about his plan.” At the two-toned boy’s raised eyebrow, he clarifies. “Clearly, Midoriya knew that he had to prove his worth to the Gem and help us morph. And logically speaking, the only way to do so was to save one of us during a time of stress.” 

Todoroki ponders this. That sounds...not at all accurate, but he figures there’s no harm in humoring his roommate. Instead, he hums in acknowledgement. Truth be told, he has no clue what to think of Midoriya; while he seemed nice enough, if a little chatty--then again, look who Todoroki lived with--he also seemed like a walking series of coincidences. He just so happened to be Kirishima’s new roommate and just so happened to have already met Yagi, and _just so happened_ to be able to acquire All Might’s Gem? None of it added up. 

Unless...

His fingers loosen around his spoon, which plops into the cereal bowl. “Shit,” Todoroki says aloud. _Is it possible?_ _Could Midoriya be like me?_

“Everything alright?” Iida looks at him with worry. The heterochromatic boy waves him off, his mind now filled with possibility. Being around Yaoyorozu so often, he knew that now he would have to conduct research to support his theory. 

Right after he finished his breakfast. 

* * *

**Izuku**

Today is, perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the busiest days at the bookstore Izuku has yet had. The store always got decent traffic, with customers asking for an eclectic variety of books; a boy once ended up with four books related to baking. One girl walked away from him with a cart full of books for fashion and makeup. Another boy, Izuku grimly remembers, asked for every book that sat at the intersection of women and digital video recording. 

Thankfully, that fellow didn’t show up this day. In fact all day, the one thing near everyone wanted books were related to the Power Rangers. His love for them not exactly a secret amongst his coworkers, any queries related to them were thrown his way. By the time noon arrived, he was certain he’d sold at least 10 coloring books, 4 toy sets, and an entire collection of graphic novels about them. 

Once he got the approval for his 15-minute break, Izuku made a mad dash for the break room. He made sure to look as discreet as possible, shoving his walkie into his pocket and keeping his head down so no customers would be able to tell he was an employee. Fully inside, he slides into the good chair with the comfy seat and sighs.

“Finally glad to be outta the fire?” Izuku opens one eye and sees Kyoka Jiro looking at him with a smirk. Despite her tone that makes her sound bored of a conversation she started, he knows there’s some concern under the purple-haired girl’s words. 

“Just a whole lotta people,” Izuku confirms. “I haven’t seen anyone this interested in the Power Rangers since...” 

“You?” She laughs at her own joke. “Gotta admit, I didn’t think I’d ever live to see any of them other than All Might.” Her fingers drum the table lightly. “It was pretty cool to see that video footage of them, y’know?” 

Try as he might, he can’t fight the smile on his face. “Yeah, I get you. I still can’t believe it happened myself.” 

“How many times did you watch the video?” 

“Just once.” Jiro gives him a look that basically says “tell the truth” and he answers correctly. “Nine or ten times.” This time, Izuku laughs with her. Jiro was one of the first people to welcome him to his new job; as one of the few people who worked in the music department, she had much more leeway than him. Her knowledge of music was nothing short of impressive, and she’d manage to make her spot in the store as the only person in charge of the store’s music playlists and even got to play some of her own music every now and again. 

Checking her watch, Jiro frowns and gets up from her seat. “And way down we go,” she mutters. “See you out there.” Izuku gives a quick goodbye as she crosses the threshold back to work. Now alone, the boy can’t help but smile brightly. This all still feels like a dream.

  
  


Izuku’s shift is almost over when he feels an arm around his neck. Instantly, his body freezes and he can’t help but flashback to seven years ago. When every move he made painted a target on his back. When he would be minding his own business and suddenly receive a wet willy or a kick to the back. 

When a friend wanted to make it _very_ clear they were no longer friends. 

As such, Izuku can’t help that his first reaction is to grab the arm and throw the person over his shoulder. He lets loose the tension from his body when he sees that it’s just Kirishima. _He’s not here,_ the greenette has to remind himself, _he’s not here._ He kneels down to help his friend back to his feet. 

Kirishima winces. “Man, if I knew you had those moves...” 

Izuku gives him an apologetic look. “What’s up?” 

“I wasn’t sure if you were able to check your texts while you were at work.” The redhead digs into his back pocket and pulls out his phone. It’s a message from Yagi to all of them; a location and the sentence _Meet me here_ below it. “All Might wanted us to meet up once we’re all able. Yaoyorozu and Uraraka are outside, and we’re all just waiting on you.”

With his work day done, Izuku climbs into the back of Yaoyorozu’s four-seater next to Uraraka. Todoroki and Iida, per their black-haired friend, would be arriving their own way and didn’t need a ride. The location their mentor sent them turned out to be an abandoned movie lot known as Ground Beta. As Yaoyorozu had so happily explained during the drive, it was primarily used for action blockbusters set in urban environments, eventually given to the Power Rangers (and later, just All Might) as a place to practice their powers free of consequence and still be near the city.

“I don’t suppose Yagi-sensei told either of you why he sent us here?” Kirishima asks Todoroki and Iida as they all convene at the parking lot. The two boys had naturally been the first to arrive. 

“We’re as in the dark as you are,” Iida says. Now fully gathered, they begin exploring once they cross the gate.

You would think that for someone who either sticks out like a sore thumb thanks to their appearance or always large and loud, it would be easy to find Yagi. But between the size of the lot and the awestruck stares at various movie props from Izuku, Uraraka and Kirishima that remain in the open, it’s clear this search will take awhile. 

“Are we sure this isn’t some type of test?” Yaoyorozu ponders after a few minutes of quiet searching. Todoroki loudly scoffs next to her. 

“Be nice,” Iida admonishes him. “If this _is_ a test, then we should be on our guard. There’s no telling what traps Yagi-sensei has for us.”

“I don’t think he’s the type to do that,” Uraraka admits. “One time I saw a book about mentoring for dummies in his back pocket. So maybe he’s just running late?”

”We could try calling him,” Kirishima offers. They all look at each other, fully aware at how bad he is about answering his phone. “Yeahhhh, never mind.”

After another few minutes of searching, they decide to take a break. “So while I was at work,” Izuku says, “I was thinking about the next time we fight a bad guy. And I was thinking that we should have a battle cry, yeah?”

“A...battle cry?” Yaoyorozu raises a perfectly done eyebrow.

“Well, see, remember when All Might came to Iida and Todoroki’s? Before he morphed, he was all—“ Izuku deepens his voice and changes his face— _“It’s Morphin Time! Ha ha ha!”_

The impression catches everyone off guard. Iida and Yaoyorozu’s eyes go wide in concern, Kirishima wheezes, then bites his lip to keep from laughing. Uraraka can’t hide her giggles. Todoroki looks at him...well, it’s always hard to figure out what that boy is thinking, but his mouth is open and his normally passive face looks like he’s made a breakthrough. 

Nervously, he changes his face back to normal. “I just. Yeah. We should do something like that.”

Quickly sobering up, Iida ponders this. “The impression aside, it’s not a bad idea. I presume you already have such a cry in mind?”

Izuku perks up. “Yeah! So first I thought we should do the Morphin Time thing like All Might, but then I figured he may find that weird. Then I _thought about Shift into Hero!, but that makes no sense, then It’s Hero Time!, but I think that’s from another show, so finally settled on Go—“_

Just then, at that moment, something wraps around Izuku’s leg and yanks him upside down. Before any of them can even react, they all find themselves bound together in trios and on the ground. 

The Rangers are dragged along the street until they’re lifted into the air to come face to face with the source of their captivity. He—at least, they can only assume—has a massive tan scarf covering his whole neck and a portion of his black suit. His black hair stands fully up, showing gold goggles that obscure his eyes. He doesn’t look thin so much as he does toned, and if it weren’t for his getup, they would’ve thought him to be the Mummy from the previous day. 

Todoroki is the first to break free. He takes a breath and blows on the scarf around his body, forcing it to loosen around him and recoil. He lands on the ground perfectly and applies a sheen ice to his right side before firing a cold burst. He doesn’t bother checking on Izuku or Uraraka. “Let them go!” His husky voice demands. When no answer comes his way, Todoroki throws his hand out again, ready to fire. Nothing comes out, to everyone’s surprise. 

Dropping the other Rangers, Scarf dashes forward, springing into the air. Izuku grits his teeth and focuses— _just a little power, just like last week_ —before channeling energy into his legs and bursts up to meet him, preparing to deliver a punch. It’s a rocky takeoff, but it works, and he pulls his arm back. He locks eyes with his enemy, and there’s a glow from the goggles a second later as he feels the energy leave his body. It’s enough time for him to be sucker punched and kneed in the stomach before being captured _again_ by the scarf and slammed into the street as they land. 

The figure’s scarf leaves Izuku as he lazily walks forward, examining the other Rangers. His head turns toward Uraraka before settling on her. Mid-stride, he reaches behind his back and pulls out a knife, swinging wildly at any part of her body within reach. Kirishima does his best to flank, coming in to grab the hand holding the blade and force it out of their foe’s grasp. Instead, all the redhead gets after a brief struggle is head butted and thrown into Uraraka. 

Three left. 

Yaoyorozu narrows her eyes. Todoroki wasn’t even near the man, and yet he found himself unable to use his own Quirk. Midoriya suffered the same fate, if the sudden absence of his sparks in the air were anything to go by. _No evil laughter, no threats. It’s almost like..._

Before she can think of voicing her thoughts, a chill comes over her. Todoroki walks in front of her, right arm encased in blue. His powers are back. With a primal yell, her friend slams his hand to the ground, unleashing a wave of ice shards at their enemy. Their foe waits until the ice barrage comes his way before getting low to the ground and jumping over them. The ends of his scarf have wrapped around a nearby lamppost and he hangs upside down. 

Iida growls and gets into a runner’s stance before dashing off. “Let’s see how you handle my speed!” 

“Iida, I don’t think—“ _Again_ , Yaoyorozu is interrupted by the chill of Todoroki’s frost powers. Without even waiting, he charges forward, forming an ice slide under his feet.

And, of course, Todoroki hops on his slide himself, not even bothering to ask her if she wanted to come along before melting it behind him. 

It comes as no surprise to her when she watches her friends get absolutely clobbered by their enemy. Just as she suspected, their powers both seem to disappear once they get in his sight lines, and he handily dispatches them both without much effort. 

“Guess I’ll just go it alone, then,” she mutters to herself before creating a staff. She twirls it and walks up to Mr. Scarf. (She’s not proud of the name, but it fits.) He tilts his head before a chuckle comes from somewhere in all that fabric, and he sends both ends coming towards her. 

The good thing about watching him fight her friends is that Yaoyorozu has a solid idea of what he’s capable of. Using her staff, she’s able to bat both ends away, getting in close to jab him in the stomach before he can do anything. A drawback to this, of course, is that he can grab her staff to bring her closer and knee her in her stomach as payback, which he does. Bowled over but not stunned, she retaliates with a palm strike to his jaw, forcing him to stumble back. When he looks back at her, one of his goggles is askew, revealing an eye twinkling with approval. 

Scarf chuckles. He slides his goggles back on properly and throws his scarf at her. She dodges both ends and thinks of a sword, her shoulder already shimmering as she wills it to manifest. It doesn’t, thanks to the soft red light from his goggles. 

Annoyed but not terribly surprised, Yaoyorozu goes low to avoid Scarf’s kick aimed at her head, only to find herself upside down. He walks over and kneels down so their eyes meet. “Nice one, kid.” He snaps his fingers and she’s set down on the ground, the scarf having placed her on her back before returning to its owner. He extends a hand and helps her to her feet. “At least one of you’s got some brains.”

“Yaoyorozu!” 

At that moment, the others run towards them, ready to fight. Scarf sighs and puts his hands up in a sign of peace. “Easy. I won’t be attacking you anymore. Honestly, beating all of you has tired me out.” From...somewhere on his person, Scarf produces a well-folded yellow bag. After unfurling it to its fullest, he unzips it and steps inside it before simply plopping down on the ground, goggles still on his face. “Get back to me in 20,” he says before snoring. 

.... “You guys see this too, right?” Kirishima asks, pointing at their sleepy enemy. Everyone nods. 

“Yeah, he does that.” Also popping in from _somewhere_ is Yagi, who has the nerve to look unfazed by all this. “Honestly, he lasted longer than I expected.”

“Yagi-sensei,” Uraraka points at the sleeping man. “You know him?”

“That I do, young Uraraka! And when he wakes up, you will, too. Meet your teacher on all things Ranger, Shota Aizawa.”

At that moment, Aizawa delivers a perfectly timed snore. 

* * *

After propping a still sleeping Aizawa upright so at the very least he could sleep against a tree, Yagi sat the Rangers down to answer their many questions.

“Aizawa and I go back a ways,” Yagi explains. “We met in college and have kept in touch ever since. He’s a good friend.”

“That name sounds familiar,” Kirishima muses aloud.

Yaoyorozu jerks a thumb at Aizawa’s sleeping form. “Sir, your ‘good friend’ defeated all of us without breaking a sweat, and then passed out in a sleeping bag.”

Iida raises his hand. “But sensei, surely can teach us? Even though you relinquished your Gem to Midoriya, you must have some power left.”

“It isn’t about what power I have left, young Iida. The fact of the matter is, we barely did any training of any kind before young Midoriya showed up. I’m not much of a teacher right now, I’ll admit.”

“I know Aizawa is...” He scratches his head before settling on “a lot, but he’s more than what he seems. I ask that you at least give him a chance.” The teens all look at one another, uncertain. 

“Let me make something clear,” Aizawa says, surprising everyone. He’s slithering over to them like a slug, goggles now resting on his forehead to reveal half-lidded eyes like he could pass out at any second. “This is really not a choice, despite what it may seem. I _am_ going to train you, because after that fight, I’m practically obligated to.”

Yagi sighs. “C’mon, Aizawa, cut them some slack. They only just became Rangers.” The man in question somehow gets upright. 

“Not happening,” Aizawa says, raking over them with a bored expression. “Their enemies won’t let up on them, so I have no reason to do so.” He bounces away from them, turning his eyes to the sun. “Today, I’m going to teach you the fundamentals of being a Ranger and a hero. You have one hour to get some food in you, and for me to take a power nap.”

He spins back around to lock eyes with each of them. “Then, for the rest of the day, you’re _mine.”_

* * *

Following a quick online food search, the Rangers settled on a nearby buffet with Yagi in tow. The mid-afternoon rush was thankfully not so overwhelming they couldn’t get food and find a seat with relative quickness. Currently, Kirishima was the only one who wasn’t tearing into his meal, instead thumbing through his phone. “Found it! I knew his name sounded familiar. My friend Mina is big into action movies and she wouldn’t shut up about this guy in this one series she loves.”

He presents his phone for the others to see the video. In it, Aizawa is in a padded training room surrounded by five fighters. Upon hearing a countdown, he springs into action, going for the one right in front of him to sweep the leg. An opponent behind him wraps their arms around his midsection as two accomplices run to Aizawa. 

He fake kicks one away, then the other. Finally, he feigns knocking his captor in the jaw with his elbow and now loose, throws the guy over his shoulder. Using his fake knife, he throws it in the chest of the final actor, who falls to the floor like a pro. 

”Whoa,” Uraraka says through her pizza. “Guess that explains his moves.”

“Not just his moves,” Yaoyorozu points out. “I think Quirk lets him stop other powers. It’s likely why your guys and Midoriya’s powers abruptly stopped.” 

Iida looks away, embarrassed. “That would explain it. I took one look at him, and then there was this feeling in my stomach. My speed shut down.”

“If he could do that to you three...” Uraraka hesitates. One by one, they all look at each other as they process this information. 

The only one who isn’t worried is Todoroki, who looks outside to Izuku and Yagi. The two of them are leaning on Iida’s car, deep in discussion. 

  
  


“I know it’s barely been a full day, but how do you feel, young Midoriya?” Yagi asks. He pulled Izuku aside just as the others walked into the diner to talk. 

Izuku goes silent for a moment before finally deciding on: “I feel all... _bzzzzt!_ No, _Whoosh_!”

“I had that feeling the first time, too,” the blonde laughs. “The power of the Gem can be overwhelming, and you may get spikes in energy from time to time, but it all becomes controllable with practice.” 

At this, Izuku nods. “You didn’t answer Iida’s question earlier, sensei. Now that I have your Gem, do you still have your powers?”

“I do, but not the considerable amount I had before. The remnants of One for All continue to flow within me.” The blonde looks at his hands before clenching them tightly. “Until it dies out, I will continue doing as much hero work as I can.”

There’s something in his voice that sounds off, and Izuku knows he can call him on it. “Yagi-sensei, what aren’t you telling me?”

Yagi looks at Izuku and sighs. “Once all this is over, come over to my apartment. We can talk then.” He puts an arm around his ward and leads them inside. “Until then, let’s eat.”

Izuku sighs and sits down as Yagi goes to get them some food. As he waits, he catches eyes with Todoroki, who eyes him suspiciously. “What?”

“What did All Might talk to you about?” Todoroki asks. 

“Nothing,” Izuku states plainly. “Just wanted to make sure I was adjusting well with the Gem.” The two-toned boy hums, and that seems to be enough to drop the subject. Moments later, Yagi returns with two plates filled with food, plus silverware. 

“You must be famished,” the older man slides both plates to him. “Eat up.” Before Izuku can say anything, he’s already gone back towards the food. Again, Todoroki fixes the greenette with a Look, while everyone just seems to accept that it happened. 

* * *

Their bellies full of seconds and thirds and the bill paid by Yaoyorozu, the Rangers return to Ground Beta. Yagi had left, though he promised to return later into the evening with some food for them if things went further into the night. Surprisingly, Aizawa had woken up and left his sleeping bag during their absence. “The first thing we’re going to be doing today is testing your Quirks for assessment. We’re going to be doing some physical tests so I have an idea of what you’re good at, what you can do to improve, and what you need to work on. I’ll be taking notes on each of you throughout the after.” 

He looks at them all before continuing. “One more thing: Whoever doesn’t perform to my liking, I will be taking your Gem from you and getting rid of your Quirk.” He gives them a wide smile. “Now, let's start with some push-ups.”

Shocked, it takes a moment for them to register what he just said before their faces etch into worry. Todoroki, neutral as always, gets to the ground and does as instructed. It breaks the others out of their stupor, and they soon follow suit. This goes on for awhile, with Izuku being the first to give up; Yaoyorozu bows out next, followed by simultaneous ends from Uraraka and Kirishima, then Iida, and Todoroki not long after them. 

The second test, the long jump, was won by Yaoyorozu, thanks to creating springs for her shoes. Uraraka was a close second, using her Zero Gravity power but jumping too soon, and lazily floating to the measuring machine for the rest of her time. Izuku came in last, trying to channel his power at the last moment before takeoff, but failing.

Test 3, a grip test, easily went to Kirishima. The fourth test, sprinting, Iida took without any trouble; Todoroki nearly beat him by simply creating yet another ice slide and drifting to the finish line, but Aizawa had him take the test again using his real legs. (He wasn’t happy about that, if the glare at Aizawa was anything to go by.) At this, Izuku does decently, coming in third, but it’s the only test he’s not done horrible in for the day. 

Their final test sees them throw a ball with their Quirk as far as they can. Unfortunately, the first person to go is Uraraka, who tosses the ball into the air so high that after a few minutes, Aizawa simply decides to just say it was “infinity.” Anything else after that simply can’t compare.

As the others throw their own balls, Izuku sits cross legged and closes his eyes. He goes back to that egg in the microwave, and in his mind, he lowers the wattage of the microwave.

“Midoriya.”

The energy pools around his arms, then his hands. 

“Midoriya!”

Izuku looks up and sees Aizawa towering over him. “Your turn. Are you ready, or should I just take your Quirk and your Gem now?”

Startled, the boy gulps as he rises to his feet. After having a baseball shoved into his chest, he walks to the same spot his friends previously occupied. Breathing, he imagines the egg in the microwave. 

Breathing, he allows the power to build in his arms. 

Breathing, he allows the power to transfer to just his hand. 

He winds up his arm. He throws the ball. It leaves his hand. And....

It barely goes anywhere. In fact, it has a comically short arc and bounces to the ground limply. _What the heck?_

“I erased your Quirk.” Izuku turns to look at Aizawa, whose eyes glow red again, and his face is fixed into a hard glare. “It was clear you were about to hurt yourself again. I don’t know what you did to take All Might’s Gem for yourself, boy, but clearly he and it have low standards. You’re not ready.”

Izuku bows his head down, hoping the ground just swallows him whole. Whether Aizawa doesn’t see his embarrassment or just plain doesn’t care, no one knows as he continues. “Were you planning on breaking your bones again? Counting on someone else to save your useless body?”

Kirishima runs over to put himself in between Izuku and Aizawa. Yaoyorozu soon joins him, followed by Iida and Uraraka. “Give him a break!” the redhead demands. “He’s only been a Ranger for a day, just like the rest of us!”

“And you think that excuses things?” Aizawa snaps. “You may be kids, but you’re all old enough to know this isn’t a game. Lives are at stake, and your enemies don’t give a damn how long you’ve been at this.”

Lazily, his eyes scan over their faces before he asks, “Can you morph?”

Yaoyorozu tilts her head.“I-I’m sorry?” 

“Why didn’t any of you morph when you were fighting me? You had no problems using your powers, but not enough sense to morph, even as the situation called for it?” At their silence, and a look between the two girls, he adds, “do you even know _how_ to morph again after yesterday?” 

“We do!” Iida interjects. “When Midoriya got the Power Gem, we finally unlocked the ability to do so.” 

“And you’re fine with that? The lives of countless innocents, including your own, in the hands of someone who can’t even _throw a punch_ without ruining his arm? What if he’s not around when you need to morph? What will you do then?”

None of them answer. They all look down in shame. 

“I thought so.” With a huff, Aizawa spins around and walks away. “You have one hour to figure out how to morph. If any of you can’t do it by the time I come back, I’ll be taking _all_ your Gems away.”

* * *

It goes without saying that Aizawa’s words caused a panic among them. Once he was out of sight, the five of them—Todoroki was annoyingly stony, even when faced with such a grave threat—had a slight freak out that lasted about 5 or 10 minutes for each of them. From there, they all took wild guesses at how to achieve their goal. 

Iida thought it best to pretend to be a villain threatening Todoroki’s life, complete with a cheesy “eeeeeeevil” voice. It didn’t work, and Uraraka nearly passed out from laughing. Yaoyorozu thought they should meditate, but nothing came of that almost immediately.

Kirishima and Uraraka’s plan was to have everyone spread their legs, shoulder width apart, and yell while squatting. (“It worked on TV,” the redhead said dejectedly when it became clear this wouldn’t yield results.) With twenty minutes to go, and their last attempt having failed since apparently Todoroki’s solution to just _thinking_ about morphing didn’t work, things were looking grim.

”This is getting us nowhere,” Yaoyorozu sighs. Todoroki mutters a ‘you think?’ just loud enough that she’s ready to smack him. “There has to be something we’re missing here.” 

“Midoriya, surely you’re able to repeat your plan from yesterday,” Iida turns to him. “How did you do it? How did you get us to morph?”

Sighing, Izuku shakes his head. “I don’t know. It just happened.”

That isn’t the answer Iida’s looking for, and he huffs in annoyance. “What do you mean you ‘don’t know?’ We were only able to do it yesterday because of _you._ So how. Did you. Do it.” 

At his friend’s silence, the bespectacled boy persists. “Out with it, man! None of us were able to do it until you showed up, and you have have known you needed to prove yourself as a hero before—“

Izuku snaps. “I don’t know! I didn’t know what I was _fucking_ doing, Tenya! I didn’t have a plan, I just...” He slumps to the ground, exhausted, and puts his head in his hands.

“Midoriya,” Yaoyorozu gently says, “why didn’t you run away yesterday like everyone else? Why did you stay?”

His shoulders shrug. “I dunno. Every part of me was saying I should get away, but my legs just started moving on their own.” He sighs. “When I saw All Might fight you all, I just knew I had to do something.” He looks up to look at Todoroki. “Maybe it was stupid, and I could’ve gotten hurt, but I couldn’t just stand there and watch you die.”

Bitterly, Izuku chuckles. “And now I’m about to be the reason we all can’t be Rangers. Maybe I am worthless after all.”

“You’re not worthless.” Kirishima walks over and takes a seat next to Izuku. “Dude, it took guts to do what you did with no powers.”

“Even more so because you did it unsure anything would happen,” Iida adds. “That is far from stupid, in fact, that’s quite brave.”

“I can't even really fight,” Uraraka points out. “And seeing you punch All Might was so cool!” Everyone laughs. 

Todoroki clears his throat. “Thank you. For saving me,” he quickly adds. 

“None of this happened the way we likely expected it to. But yesterday, we did something amazing.” Yaoyorozu smiles. “We can figure this out,” She raises her Gem-covered wrist. “Together.”

Iida and Uraraka raise theirs. “Together.”

Kirishima and Todoroki nod. “Together.”

With a smile, Izuku says: “Together.”

And their Gems glow brightly. 

* * *

Aizawa yawns as he wakes up from his third nap of the day. On one hand, he knows that he should stop having power naps and talk to a medical professional. On the other hand, naps are great, and he paid _so much yen_ for that comfy sleeping bag that it would be a waste not to use it as much as possible. 

He checks his watch; it’s been a little over an hour since he left those kids alone to figure out their morphing problem. With luck, they’d gotten that nailed down, or things would be incredibly problematic. 

“Sensei!”

Looking up, Aizawa sees the six kids standing next to each other, single file. There isn’t a trace of fear among their faces, and in the case of Midoriya, he looks excited. _This should be interesting._ “Something you want to show me?”

“Yes sir!” Iida looks to Midoriya. “Would you like to do the honors?”

Midoriya steps forward, raising his wrist. “Ready?” His Gem glows green before turning into a Morpher.

The others raise their wrists, turning their own Gems into Morphers. “Ready!” 

Aizawa smiles as he knows what’s coming. _This kid..._

**_“GO BEYOND, PLUS ULTRA! HA!!!”_ **

As one, they throw their arms to their side and leap into the air, colored energy wrapping around each of their bodies. Upon landing, the energy solidifies around them, becoming their Ranger Suits. 

_“Green Ranger!”_

_”Pink Ranger!”_

_”White Ranger!”_

_”Blue Ranger!”_

_”Crimson Ranger!”_

_”Red Ranger!”_

Yet again as one, they pose and shout: _“_ **POWER RANGERS!”**

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Aizawa says after they power down. “You actually did it.” He breaks into a smile. “Well done. But, there’s still one thing left to do.” He reaches into his pocket and tosses a ball to Izuku. For a moment, the boy looks confused before realization dawns on him and he grins. 

Moving away from his friends. Izuku closes his eyes. Breathing, he imagines the egg in the microwave. 

Breathing, he allows the power to build in his arms. 

Breathing, he allows the power to transfer to just his hand. He winds up his arm. He throws the ball. This time, he focuses on channeling the power to his pointer finger just before it leaves his grasp.

With a loud boom, it goes sky high into the air. Izuku looks to Aizawa, trying to ignore the pain in his finger. “Was that good enough, sir?”

Aizawa grins. “It’s a start, kid. Also,” he says to all of them. “None of you are losing your Gems tonight. Mostly because I lied.”

Izuku, Iida, Kirishima, and Uraraka look at him in shock. Todoroki looks unfazed. “It was a logical ruse,” he shrugs. 

Yaoyorozu looks at them all with pity. “Maybe I should’ve said something earlier...I thought you all knew.”

 _“Yeah, you should’ve,”_ the four hiss at her. 

“Alright, settle down,” Aizawa orders. “All that matters is that you can morph on your own now without problem child over there. We’re done for today. Going forward, we’ll be meeting here for training. Text your work schedules to All Might, and he’ll text them to me.” Before he leaves, he smiles. “And good job tonight. I knew you could do it.”

Once they’re certain he’s gone, they whoop in excitement. 

* * *

**Izuku**

“You wanted to see me, Yagi-sensei?” Upon returning to their apartment, the first thing Izuku did was head to Yagi’s, promising Kirishima it would only be a few minutes. 

Stepping inside, Yagi led Izuku to the couch and sat him down while the blonde paced back and forth, muttering. Clearing his throat, the elder Ranger exhales. “Now that you have my Gem, there are two things that I need to clear up with you going forward.”

“I told you that the Power Gem amplifies its user’s natural abilities. This is only half true. The truth is, you have a Gem that is, to my knowledge, the most powerful Gem in the world. It’s come to be known as One for All.” He kneels down so he and Izuku are face to face. “The Gem stockpiles the strength and abilities of its previous users, passing its gift down to each successor. I am the eighth user, and as of yesterday, you are the ninth. Meaning you now have the power of eight Rangers within you.”

Izuku gasps, looking down at his wrist. Yagi pulls back and stands up. “The other thing I have to tell you is...well, it’s not pretty. It’s the reason I coughed blood when I first showed you my form.” He lifts up his shirt and Izuku has to resist the urge to gag. Near the center of Yagi’s abdomen is a horrific mass of purple and pink scarred flesh. It looks like someone pressed down on his chest like he was a clay heart.

“Nearly 20 years ago, I was in a fight with a villain named All for One. In our battle, we nearly killed each other, and he gave me this scar for my troubles. I had to go through multiple surgeries and procedures to get to the state you see me in.” Bringing his shirt down, Yagi continues, “With the Gem’s full power, I was able to maintain my heroic form without any real trouble, but now, I suspect I can only use it for a few hours at most. Eventually, as your body gets used to it, the power of One for All in me will fade and transfer to you completely.”

Izuku sniffles. Yagi knows he’s just placed a large burden on the boy and doesn't hesitate to wrap him in his arms. “It’s okay, my boy. Don’t you dare cry. This is how it has to be. I knew one day I would pass this gift to someone worthy.” He gently pushes Izuku back to look him in the eye. “I just have to make the best of the time I have left.”

Yet again, Izuku cries, and this time, Yagi joins him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whistles* Maaaaaaaaaaan, this was a lot. Originally, the morph sequence—influenced by Dino Thunder, in case that weren’t clear—was going to go in the previous chapter, but I wanted to save it and have it mean something. Once I figured how to incorporate Aizawa into the story, this felt like the right place to have it. 
> 
> Alright going forward, several chapters are gonna break the team up into groups or solo outings. Izuku has taken center stage these last three chapters, and I wanna give everyone their time to grow and evolve outside of his orbit, and also build up some supporting characters I wanna do stuff with later. He’ll still be around, but more as a supporting player. (Case in point: an upcoming chapter will have him in it, but the lead character is Momo.)
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please wash your hands!


	4. Momo Yaoyorozu: The Perfect Score

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momo Yaoyorozu has spent her life being labeled perfect. And when the Rangers learn of a new VR program designed to make them better, she can't help but give into her desire to improve her ranking. But at what cost?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names bolded=who appears in the chapter.

**The Perfect Score**

**Izuku Midoriya** **•** Ochaco Uraraka **•** Tenya Iida **• Shouto Todoroki • Momo Yaoyorozu •** Eijirou Kirishima

_By the way, Ground Beta has a VR room that you can use to train. Try not to die or hurt yourselves._

That was the text Momo woke up to. She had groggily reached for her phone, having been woken up by her obnoxiously loud alarm. It took a moment to register a few things from the text itself: the first being that it was from Aizawa, and the second that it was sent at _1:24 in the morning, are you kidding._

Once she finally woke up, she went about quickly getting ready, jumping out of her bed and heading to the kitchen to grab a package of Pop Tarts and scarf it down while also pouring herself a cup of orange juice. Beverage in hand, she turned around and nearly collided with her roommate. Embarrassed, she took the Pop Tart out of her mouth. “Sorry, Kyoka! Didn’t see you there.” 

Kyoka backed away, eyes wide as dinner plates before drooping back down. “Yeah, I noticed.” She moved past her roommate to reach up into the cupboard to grab a cup for her coffee. Failing to fight back a yawn, she asked, "where are you going so early anyways?

Momo paused. She very well couldn’t tell her roommate that she was a superhero, but she was also not an especially great liar. “I am...” she hesitated. “Going to the gym. With my morning workout group.” 

Her purple-haired roommate kept a flat face and raised an eyebrow. “A workout group. At nearly 8:30 in the morning.” She was not amused.

The black-haired girl's face turned red. “O-o-o-o-o-f course! Scientific studies show that when you work out in the morning, your body is much more prepared for what follows for the rest of the day." 

Kyoka tch'd and grabbed a Pop Tart package of her own. “Sure, okay. Go have fun with whoever you 'work out' with. See you after work." Her coffee and impromptu breakfast in hand, she brushed past Momo and went back to her room. 

Momo let out a sigh of relief. She didn't _want_ to lie to her best friend, but it needed to be done. Still, she could tell the guitarist knew she was lying, and she also knew she would have to make it up to Kyoka eventually. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her head, the new Ranger went back to her room, hurriedly getting ready for her early work out. 

* * *

Growing up, there was one word Momo heard more often than not: Perfect.

She’d shown a knack for learning, earning perfect scores on near every test. She’d been labeled the perfect student through middle and high school, coming in as the president of her class. Her application into UA? Perfect enough to get a free ride. (The many many recommendation letters more than likely hadn't hurt, either.) Even her birth had been apparently “perfect,” so said her mother. So to learn that she had both a super power and the ability to become a Power Ranger had felt, well, appropriate in a grand cosmic sort of way. And she knew that when the time come, she wanted to make sure that she left her mark on Ranger history.

She wanted to be a, you guessed it, _perfect_ Ranger.

It was with this energy that she drove to Ground Beta. Looking over the video footage of the Rangers’ first fight that went viral, she had seen areas where she could improve, like her creation time and general endurance. Thinking back, she had broke a sweat, and those were just up against overgrown bandages! Unacceptable, not when there would be more dangerous threats down the line.

Locking her car, Momo briskly walked over to Lot 1120, briefly raising her Gem so the scanner would verify her. Once it accepted her, the doors slid open and upon entering, she fought back the urge to groan. 

Because Midoriya and Todoroki were already here and fighting against what looked like robots that belonged in any sci-fi film. Unnoticed, Momo took note of both boys; how Todoroki’s ice attacks were always _vicious_ , like he was so angry and just wanted to get things over with quickly. How Midoriya was punching but not _punching_ , which was fair since he nearly destroyed his arm two days ago. With a final hit delivered courtesy of the latter, the program ended, and the boy collapsed. Todoroki wasn’t so dramatic, but he did sit down, clearly winded. They both looked up as a holographic screen appeared in front of them. Below Todoroki's name was a capital H in bold font, read aloud in All Might’s deep voice:

**“HEROIC!”**

And underneath Midoriya's, a capital C.

**"Cool."**

Still on the floor, Midoriya whooped. Finally deciding to make her presence known, Momo walked over to both boys, seeing sweat on both their faces. Just how long had they been here?

“Oh, hey, Yaoyozu,” Midoriya said tiredly. “How’s you, doin.”

Yeah, they must’ve been here a while. Sighing, Momo shed her jacket and tossed it to the side, revealing a red and black sports bra and black shorts. She began to stretch, the most important part of any exercise. “Well, I was planning on trying the VR that Aizawa-sensei told us about, but I guess you two got started without me. Where are the others?”

He took a big gulp of air before replying, still sounding delirious. “Kirishima and Uraraka had to work, Iida said he would be around later today, s'mthn with his parents. And yeahhhhh, we’ve been here, how long?” He leaned up to look at Todoroki, who shrugged. “Like maybe an hour? Decided to give it a go. I've been getting D's, but Todoroki's been cleaning up against H's all across the board," the two-toned boy puffed his chest at the recognition, "but I'll catch up to him!"

Internally, she kicked herself for not thinking of her two teammates and how they would react to their teacher's text. Todoroki had easily the most versatile Quirk of them all before Midoriya showed up, and it was clear that he had gotten his Gem and its power way before all of them. And Midoriya, well, he would of course relish at the chance to test his abilities on something that would burst into pixels and not hurt him in the process.

Rather than kick herself, though, she decided to press on. They had an hour up on her, but she could get up to their level. “Well, I hope you don’t mind if I join you.” Hearing no complaints, Momo walked to the console in the center of the room. According to it, they both had done a “Drone Smash” challenge; essentially endless waves of enemies for three rounds with zero rest points for 90 seconds. 

Seeing her at the console, the Green Ranger rose to his feet and walked over, now relaxed. “This VR stuff is sooooooooo cool. There’s so many modes from fighting drones to stealth and even hostage situations, you can _make modifiers like shutting off Ranger powers, and you can even change locations and settings and--”_

She held up a hand to silence him as she continued perusing. “I get it. This all seems easy enough, I’ll join you on your next go around.” Not waiting for a response, she stepped away from the console to finish up her stretching. After another minute, she said, “Ready when you are.” 

Todoroki got to his feet and walked over to the console, selecting the “repeat” option. The console descended into the floor as the room hummed before a white light emerged in its center. Strands of light slowly loaded the bipedal drones from before from head to toe until around 20 drones were in front of them. Midoriya muttered something to himself about how they looked like something straight from a video game, but Momo didn't pay it any mind. 

“3....”

She felt a chill in the air as Todoroki iced up his right arm. 

“2...”

She closed her eyes and willed a sword into her hands, gripping the hilt. 

“1. Begin!” 

The moment the drones took a step forward, Todoroki blasted all them all to a halt. Frozen in place, they blinked out of existence before another gaggle spawned in a different place, all of them quickly scattering so they wouldn’t be taken out so easily again. Focusing on a pair mid-escape, Momo darted forward and sliced them both in half. Light shimmered and another trio spawned nearby, forcing her to run again. 

Ducking under a beam of ice, she slashed two drones in their legs before a quick slash at what counted as their throats. Down, but not out, one of them crawled toward her leg, but she embedded the sword in its head before it could get any funny ideas. No sooner than that had another drone tackled her out of nowhere. Smacking the sword out of her hand, its fingers reached for her face, Momo barely able to keep it from grabbing her by pressing her foot against its chest. With some effort, she kicked it off her, and she was prepared to make another sword to execute it...

But then came Midoriya with a punch that sent it exploding in a shower of pixels. Quickly, he helped her to her feet before going for another cluster of drones. She was already berating herself for such a screw up, but soon formed a staff and resumed the exercise. 

By the time the clock had run out, Momo certainly defeated her share of drones, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how easily Midoriya bested that drone while she barely kept it from touching her. _Seriously, Momo? Against a robot?_ Pushing those thoughts to her mind as best she could, she looked up as the scoreboard appeared again. 

Todoroki: **“RANGERRIFIC!”**

Midoriya and Yaoyorozu: **“Cool.”**

"Let's go again," she said, already pressing the button to repeat before the others could object. Her feet bounce as the drones load up again. This time, she'd get a better score. 

She didn't get a better score. In fact, the second time around, she gets bumped down to "Decent," (likely because she didn't give herself time to breathe and as such, was slower to react), then back up to "Cool" the third time. It took everything in her power to not lose it when she decided to see what she's docked for all three times. Slow creation time, getting hit, time penalized for dispatching enemies too similarly. By the time she's gotten to the end of her summary page, she's ready to rip the console off and toss it in the bin.

Instead, she opted for taking another drink of her water bottle and catching her breath. Todoroki once again doesn't convey any emotion, incensing her further, but not as much as Midoriya. The newest Ranger is in his own head again, which of course means he has to mutter _very_ loudly about what he can improve on, power output, and some other things that are already working on her nerve. 

It drives her nuts. 

Just when her green-haired friend is finally deciding to take a breath after typing something in his phone, the ponytailed girl can't take it anymore. "Midoriya, _enough_ ," she snapped. "Can we just get five seconds without you running color commentary on yourself?" When he looked at her like she just slapped him, her glare softened. There was no reason for her to snap at him and like that and she mumbled, “Sorry.” She folded her arms and looked away. 

"It's fine," he waved off the insult. "Don't be so hard on yourself. No one gets everything right the first try. Well, except Todoroki," he added after a suspiciously loud scoff. "But I guess we can't all be as perfect as him." The sarcasm is palpable, but hearing the word still cut at Momo's heart. If Todoroki and All Might were the high standard, what was she? She looked at the scoreboard again, eyes boring into that C. She'd never received a C or D on anything in her life, much less a training program. It felt like wrong. It felt like _failure_.

But then, she perked up. When she was at the console earlier, she saw the settings established were basic, no doubt to account for Midoriya. (And no doubt to Todoroki's chagrin.) She thought back to something she'd once heard Kirishima say while he was talking to Uraraka about video games: "Sometimes a game is hard because it wants you to get on its level instead of the other way around." And since this _was_ technically a video game, it stood to reason...

Unaware of her internal discussion, Midoriya asked, "Go again? I think I got one more in me before work." 

"Yes! Yes, let's all do one final challenge! Just let me..." Frantically, she capped off her water bottle and threw it to the side before power walking to the console. "You said parameters could be modified?” 

He nodded. “Yeah, but we haven’t really messed with it yet.” 

"Well, now's the perfect time." A slim finger hovered over the “Options'' menu before pressing. She wanted a challenge for all three of them, but especially for herself. Something that would make her think on her feet and keep her on her toes. Black eyes scanned over the multitude of options before quickly selecting four modifiers that sounded the most difficult, and changed the time from a trio of 90-second rounds to a single 5-minute round. Finally, she turned the difficulty up from “Protector” to “Ultimate,” just under "Legendary Ranger."

"Yaoyorozu," Midoriya looked her nervously. "Are you sure we're ready for that?"

Truthfully, no, but she would certainly try. "Of course!" She injected bravado into her voice. "Just think of how our score will look to the others! How it'll inspire them, motivate them to be better! When they look at our scores, they'll think--"

"We get it," Todoroki cut in. "Can we just do this already?" That seemed to be enough to placate Midoriya. With his nod of approval and Todoroki's....everything radiating impatience, Momo slammed the “confirm” button. For the third time today, the console lowered into the ground. The beam that generated the drones from before returned, only instead of producing around 20, its production increased to that of near 50. Whereas before they were bipedal and human size, there were now many of them disc-like and floating or much larger with four legs and weapons equipped on each arm. Rather than the typical training environment they had practiced in earlier, the room changed until it resembled Ground Beta in its entirety. 

_“3...2...”_

Momo has formed another sword in her hand as her friends take up battle stances once again.

_“1. Begin!”_ The announcer said something else, but it was drowned out by the sound of the drones activating from their prone state and attacking.

Last time, Todoroki was fast enough to fire an ice blast, but this time, the drones were faster. As the ground drones took to scattering, the flying drones took to the air and fired laser beams at the trio. He barely had enough time to throw up an ice spikes high enough to block them beams. One of the spider drones was smart enough to rush through them and came barreling towards him. He pulled back his fist, ready to attack with ice.

And then Momo jumped in front of her friend and thrust her sword in its face. As it exploded into nothing, Todoroki fixed her with a look somewhere between annoyance and incredulity. “Did you really just steal my kill?” His eyes narrow before he’s ducked down and hit the drone that nearly took off his head. 

“It’s a legitimate strategy!” She rushed out. She continued her pursuit of enemies, instead moving to hack and slash at a nearby spider drone. Its single eye caught her first and turned its cannon at the girl’s direction. With a help, she quickly formed a shield around her arm, frantically dodging its fire until she was close enough to kill it with a slash. _Focus, Momo, focus. Just get that grade!_ Steeling herself, the genius ran towards a pair of regular drones coming for her; she threw her shield at them, and one of them actually had the speed to catch it. Not only that, the drone then put the tip of the shield between its fingers and hurled it at her. She had to break her stride and duck down to the floor to avoid it taking off her head. She barely had time to get back on her feet before they both came charging at her, dodging her sword slashes like it was nothing. It was only thanks to a feint move that she dispatched them both.

“Hey, uh, guys?" Midoriya yelled to get his friends attention. Somehow, he’d manage to get himself in midair by holding onto an aerial drone by its edges. "I think this is getting out of hand!" He charged up a fist and punched clean through it, managing a successful landing only because it finally exploded at a decent height that wouldn’t kill him. "Like, really out of hand." 

Todoroki made a 'tt' sound between his lips, because of course this was nothing to him. "If you can't handle some holograms, how will you handle the real thing?" He darted off before either could answer. 

Looking to Midoriya, she shrugged her shoulders. Personally, she found herself agreeing with her verdant-colored friend, but on the other hand... "Like you said, we just have to get good!" She ran before she could hear his response. They were only a minute in, how difficult could it really be?

As it turned out, very. With each one vanquished, the drones returned in greater numbers and a touch more aggressive with an increase in their ranks. Momo lost some hair when one of them got a hold of her sword and she had to create _another_ just to keep up with its erratic slashes. Todoroki's shirt was now missing a sleeve after it had been torn off while he tried to escape from a particularly handsy drone. At that, Midoriya got out, "Are you guys _sure--_ " before receiving a black eye. But it was fine, she thought to herself. 

But _then,_ when she took to the air thanks to springs underneath the soles of her feet hoping to catch a spider drone unawares, an aerial drone came out of nowhere and rammed into her chest. The impact felt like she'd been punched by Kirishima and it hurt like heck at some point, her body created _something_ presumably sharp in her hand and she jammed it into the drone’s head. Whatever it was did the trick, because it exploded like all the others destroyed before it. Unlike Midoriya and the one he killed, this one was still in the air when it died, and she felt herself fall, hair whipping at her face. 

And then she landed on something cold, her body sloshing around back and forth until she landed back on solid ground. Todoroki hovered over her, gave her a once over, and decided she was fine before helping her stand. Without looking, he formed a massive wall of ice, no doubt to buy them some time. Looking them both over, they had some bruises this one much higher that should buy them some time. At that moment, Midoriya lands next to them, panting and flexing his fingers. No doubt he’s been doing a lot of punching today. 

“Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard,” Momo admitted. They both slowly turn their heads to look at her. 

“‘A little’?” “You’re kidding, right?” Todoroki and Midoriya speak at the same time. Her glare shuts them both up. An errant beam from an aerial drone clips Todoroki's shoulder, shocking them all. With a sneer, a single shard of ice goes flying into its eye.

“Yaoyorozu, what the heck did you add to this?” Midoriya pressed. Todoroki knelt down and applied another sheet of ice to his wall, trapping the drones. (If it took out a few of them in the process, then that happened too, and he felt some pride in getting some multikills.) 

Momo closed her eyes and thought back to her choices. “I increased the difficulty, enemy aggression and multiplication, and, maybe something else, I don’t know!”

“Can’t we just tell this thing to end the simulation?” Todoroki asked, eyes firmly on the wall and to blast any drones that looked like they may break through. 

Momo chuckled nervously. “I, um...may have selected the option to not pause the simulation until it was complete."

Todoroki turned his head to her, mouth actually agape. Midoriya's eye twitched. “What. The hell. Is wrong with you?!” He hissed. 

“I just wanted a better score, I’m sorry!” She shot back, heat rushing to her face. 

“We need to morph,” Todoroki said. Behind him, his wall began to crumble thanks to the drones applied pressure. “It’s the only way we get out of this.”

Momo grimaced. “That’s the other thing...I think I decided to limit the number of morphs.”

This time, Midoriya didn’t say anything. Instead, he just sighed. Very deeply. “Okay. Okay. Sure. _Whatever._ How many morphs do we have?” 

“Just one. Since there’s three of us, I figured we all only need to morph that one time." She tried to rack her memory for anything else she might've missed, then smacked her head in realization. "And we'll have to face a boss drone at the end." Her cheeks flushed at their continued staring. "Look, be mad at me later after we're done with this! Ready?" She raised her wrist. 

Conceding that she had a point, Todoroki and Midoriya raised theirs. “Ready.” Their morphers activated. 

**_“GO BEYOND, PLUS ULTRA! HA!!!_ **

**_HERO POWER!"_**

Just as their morph finished, the drones come rushing out of different holes in Blue's wall. As they begin to pour in, Green has charged forward to meet them, activating his power to punch several of them into pieces and shattering the ice with each shockwave. 

“Keep one of the flying drones alive for me!” Crimson ordered. Blue nodded before slamming his hand to the floor, shooting spikes up into the next wave and suspending them in air. One of the spikes clipped an aerial drone too slow to dodge, and it crashed onto the floor. While her friends continued their frontal assault, she ran over to the destroyed drone. Flipping it over, she pulled at its cannon until it popped out, the wires thankfully still connected. _Really hope this works._

Two drones came charging towards her, and she pressed down on what she was certain was the trigger. The beam decimated them both just as they came within grabbing distance. Fighting a smile, she continued firing at any and all drones she laid eyes on. Between her improvised weapon--at one point she just decided to yank the thing out entirely and fortunately, it was still functional--and the brute strength of Green and Blue, the drones went down much easier as the clock ran out.

They all sighed in relief and then looked at one another. Time for the real test. 

_"Now loading: Boss Drone."_

Once again, the room created another adversary for them in the center of the hologram of Ground Beta. It looked like one of the spider drones, but it was _much_ bigger, nearly blocking out the sun with its height. Both its arms whirred as it continued to load into the environment.

If the sigh from both her friends was any indication, Crimson knew she was not winning any points with either of them today. 

Now fully formed, the Boss Drone looked down at the three Rangers with its single eye before aiming its cannon arm towards them.

Crimson’s eyes widened through her helmet. “Move!” She threw the cannon to the ground and took off running, hoping that Green and Blue would follow her. It was only thanks to the size of the Boss and its slow turning that they were able to get away as fast as they could. Blue swung his arm out, creating a pillar that ran clean through its arm. While the Drone toppled to its side. For good measure, he covered its remaining body in ice.

“Any ideas?” Green asked. 

“You mean besides, ‘Turn it into scrap’?” Blue asked dryly. The Drone’s eye glowed a bright orange, and the frozen prison was starting to melt. 

“That may be a problem." Crimson pointed towards the arm, which was now glowing and slowly creating a new body from its stump. _Of course_ it regenerates. "'Turning it into scrap' may not be feasible if we do what you did." 

"You got a better idea?" Her mind went into overdrive as her eyes darted back and forth between the Drone regrowing its arm and the other growing an entirely new body. _If it can make a new body out of something as large an arm, then we would just be overwhelmed by all of them. But, maybe if we...._

“I think I’ve got one _really_ strong punch left in me,” Green said, “But I dunno if I could take out both in one hit without hurting myself.”

That made up her mind. “Then Todoroki and I will handle the other.” Her arms glowed before the fabric around them exploded and a pair of black disks emerged. “We take these bombs and plant them on the other Drone all around its body. It should be enough.” 

“Uh, what are you--” 

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “It’s faster to create things with open skin.” She tossed the inert explosive to Green as a backpack popped out of her stomach. Internally, she was glad to still have some energy to burn off from the rest of last night’s dinner and this morning’s short breakfast. She had to already have made about 20 of these and was starting to feel tired. 

“...Why do you know how to make bombs?” Blue asked warily. 

_Very late night internet searches,_ she thought to herself. Out loud she said, "All these bombs placed along its body should suffice. Midoriya, you and I _have_ to destroy both Drones at the exact same time." They quickly stuffed the explosives in the backpack, then she slung it across her front. “We'll need our timing to be perfect."

Ignoring the trio, the second Boss Drone slammed its fists against the ice until its brethren was free. Then, both Drones turned their bodies toward the Rangers and fired their eye lasers. Even with their equally gigantic size and slow speed, their combined firepower made escape difficult when all they had to do was stare down at the three Rangers. More than once, Green or Crimson nearly fell to the floor, and even Blue wasn’t quick enough in some cases to avoid being caught in the blast radius. 

“Midoriya, take the one on the right!” Crimson ordered. Concentrating on forming a grappling gun, she ran over to Blue and pulled him close before taking off onto the roof of a nearby studio. Turning, she saw the younger of the Drones came lumbering towards them. Its turn speed was slow, but it was quickly gaining on them, one of its arms stretched out. _I really hope this works._

“Well, now what?” Blue snapped, breaking her out of her concentration. 

“I told Midoriya that we needed to time our attacks simultaneously," she answered, "but this all falls apart without you. When we destroy the Drones, Todoroki, you _need_ to make it cold to slow down their regeneration process. Colder than cold so they're completely frozen solid, inside and out." She removed her helmet to prove how serious this was. "I know I got us into this mess, but I can get us out of it if you trust me. Do you?” 

He didn't answer. Instead, he asked, “What do you have in mind?”

“We can use its arm to help destroy it. See how it’s always trying to grab us?” She concentrated and created a second backpack, ignoring the ever growing pain in her stomach, and put in gently in his hands. “Divide and conquer. I plant bombs all along its lower body. With your ice slide, you’re fast enough to dodge its attacks and plant some along its upper half.” 

Sighing, Blue took half her bombs and deposited them in his backpack. “This better work.” He said before forming an ice slide and jumping on it. It wasn't a hard confirmation of trust, but she could work with it. Taking out her grappling gun again, Crimson fired it and went swinging towards the Drone, landing in between its legs with a small tumble. After forming springs in her shoes and ignoring the pain in her stomach from _that,_ she got to work unzipping her bag and tossing bombs wherever felt right. Underneath its feet, around its feet, under its legs. 

As she’s thrown the last bomb onto the Drone, there's a crackle before she's hearing Green’s voice inside her helmet. _“_ Please _tell me you two are ready.”_ His voice sounds strained. _“I don’t think I can keep dodging this thing--ah, crap!”_ She was worried before he threw out a quick, _"I'm fine!"_

“All bombs are set down here. Todoroki?” 

_“Ready,”_ came the Blue Ranger’s calm voice. 

Using the last of her power, Crimson ignores the pain in her stomach and has made a detonator in her hand. Her other hand has already pulled out her grapple gun to take her to safety one last time. “Everyone get ready. Midoriya, do what you do best.” Her thumb is hovering over the button.

 _“I’m jumping...now!”_ Looking to her far right, Crimson can see the telltale streaks of Green’s power at work. _“Hero...!”_

Her thumb goes down on the trigger.

**_“SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!!!”_ **

At the same time, his glowing fist hits the Drone.

As the original Drone is shattered into pieces, small and big, by Green’s punch, the bombs courtesy of Crimson and Blue explode and destroy its copy. Scraps of metal and wire hang in the air, looking like some horrific robotic midair collision just took place. Before they can fall to the ground, Blue has thrown his arm out and frozen all of them in a giant block of ice. 

**_“TRIAL COMPLETE!!!!”_ **

The digitized Ground Beta ceases to be, returning to its default state of white lights and tiles, the console rising from the ground all the evidence of completion they need. The scraps of metal vanish from the ice block, and the Rangers, no longer fighting for their lives, power down. 

_“Finally,_ ” Midoriya slumped to the floor, exhausted. Momo and Todoroki, though tired as him, manage to stay on their feet. “I don’t even care that I may have hurt my hand again, I’m just so glad we’re done.” 

Todoroki doesn’t say anything, but he does walk over to his ice prison and press his left hand against it. In no time, steam fills the room as it’s evaporated into nothing. Fully content, he’s made his way back to Midoriya and Momo. “Guess your plan wasn’t bad after all.” He looks at Momo from the corner of his eye just before the scoreboard pops up to give them their ranking. 

Midoriya, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu:  **“RANGERRIFIC!!!”**

Momo can’t help but squeal in excitement, nor can she help wrapping her arms around the two boys. “Yes! We did it!” There’s a breakdown of their penalizations, but Momo doesn’t care, she just wants to savor this moment. No sooner does she bring them together does Todoroki remove her arm from around his neck. It may just be her imagination, but his face may go red. Possibly from exhaustion. 

Midoriya sighed and detached himself from her. “Alright, I’m gonna go home and take a shower before work, because my....everything hurts, and I need to do something about this black eye.” They both move past her to get to the door, the pain clear on their bodies. 

“Guys,” she called out. They both turn to her, apprehensive. (She’s certain Todoroki had the nerve to sigh loudly. Rude.) “Thanks. I know I went a little overboard there, and I’m sorry I got you swept up in my nonsense.” 

Their bodies both loosen up at the apology. Ever the good friend, Midoriya smiled. “Don’t worry about it. It made us stronger, and that’s what matters.” 

Todoroki, however, does not have the tact of his fellow male. “You nearly got us killed.” Momo's shoulders deflate. "But," His heterochromatic eyes lock with hers, "that actually _was_ the challenge I needed. Next time, I'll do it on my own." 

Despite the seriousness of the words, it sounds something like a playful challenge. She chuckled to herself. "Maybe next time, we bump it up to Legendary Ranger?"

"Okay, nope," Midoriya said, throwing his hands in the air and leaving. "Nope, I'm out. You two are nuts." Momo laughed, grabbing the collection of swords and staves she created during her endeavor before walking out. Halfway out, she turned out to give one last look to that console, her mind running wild with the possibility of challenges yet conquered, of scenarios yet to be created. 

She wanted to reach the top ranking for _all of them._

And with that, she shut the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whistles* Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, this one took some time to get down properly. 
> 
> In writing this, I tried to figure out what personal flaw Momo would have, and what I eventually settled on was her overenthusiasm and her drive to be perfect. I think that Momo was a classic Gifted Kid and hasn't had many moments that have genuinely been "I messed up." And to put her in what essentially is Bloody Palace from the Devil May Cry games felt right, because anyone who's played those games or something like it has gotten obsessed with being the best at it and pushing forward despite it perhaps being best to slow down and take a break. (A game like Dark Souls, also referenced here, would likely prove vexing for her as well.) 
> 
> Lemme know how you felt about this! Next up is Kirishima. 
> 
> For those curious, the Rankings from worst to best go: D (Decent), C (Cool), H (Heroic), R (Rangerrific), U (Ultra!), PU (PLUS ULTRA!!!)


	5. Shoto Todoroki: Cooldown Period

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a stressful battle, Todoroki takes a nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not dead, and neither is this! Didn't mean to be missing over the spring and summer but, life, y'know? Also, I gave it new title because it fit better.

This was perhaps not Shoto’s day. 

It started well enough, with a quick breakfast, followed by jogging using the gym in his and Iida’s apartment complex. Following that, he made his way to Ground Beta for what he’d taken to calling Ranger Training in his internal schedule. Then, after taking a break for lunch, things got worse as he found himself with a slowly growing headache courtesy of his father. Two missed calls, a voicemail, and three texts was something no one should have to endure, let alone over the span of 20 minutes.

Naturally, he put his phone on silent and dove right back into training, participating in one of the combat programs to work on his close quarters. Mid and long-range were his specialty, but on the off chance someone got close to him, he didn’t want to be pummeled, that would just be embarrassing. The program did him some good, even if it did lead to some knees to the stomach or punches to his side. It was so effective that he hadn’t minded when he opened his phone again and received another deluge of calls, voicemails, and texts from his father. 

It didn’t hurt that he could also ignore them in favor of an alert about a villain attack, one who was blazing a literal trail of fire. 

Making his way to the fight in question, he’d been informed via a text from Iida that the other Rangers needed help putting out the fires. Rather than do that, he decided it would be easier to focus on the villain, since the others and the fire department could handle rescuing. And then he found himself slightly regretting his choice as he went up against the source of the fires.

The villain -- a stocky man wearing simply a t-shirt and baggy jeans, with flames covering his head and hands -- called himself “Burnout,” according to a police officer who flagged down the Blue Ranger as he lept into danger. The name didn’t bother him so much as it was the pyro’s flames growing stronger the more of them there seemed to be. And considering he had been setting fires for at least 10 minutes, that gave him a significant advantage over the ice user. 

Which brings us to now, as Blue slams his hand to the ground and is elevated by a column of ice. Dodging a fireball thrown his way, Blue shoots down a beam of ice that melts when it gets close enough to hit Burnout. The villain claps his hands together and creates a wave of fire that slices the ice column neatly in half. 

_Shit, shit, shit, shit--!_ Jumping off his collapsing vantage point, Blue points his hand downward and creates a slide to help him land safely on solid ground. Internally, Blue groans. It’s just his luck that he has to go up against the fire villain the same day his father is pestering him. It’s like the universe is trying to insult him further. 

“Gonna have to do better than that, kid,” Burnout taunts. Flames slowly circle around his arms, making him look like a magical creature. He darts forward, throwing an arm out. Columns of flame burst from the ground, and Blue jumps back to avoid the one right under his feet. 

_“Todoroki,”_ White calls out over their helmet radios, _“the flames we put out just started up again, what’s happening?!”_

“I’m working on it,” Blue replies testily. He wrings out his right hand as Burnout proceeds forward, each footstep punctuated by a burn mark in the street. 

His fiery foe smirks, pretending to wipe imaginary dust off his shoulder. “Aw, is it just you and me, kid? Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you. Truth is, I only flew here from the states just to draw out the big guy.” 

“All Might?” Blue asks. That figures, everyone always thinks they can take him out. 

There’s a cruel, mocking laugh from his enemy. “That loser? Nah, I’m talking about the real hot shot.” The next word hits like a knife in Blue’s heart: “Endeavor.” 

Beneath his helmet, Blue’s eyes go hard. His fists clench in anger. Of course. _Of course_ his old man would be involved in this, however tangentially. 

“I’ve been wanting to scorch him since I learned how to light a match just by snapping my fingers.” Burnout demonstrates, and the small flame morphs into a fireball with a mocking face. For good measure, he casually throws it into another building next to him, increasing his flames evermore. 

“Enough of this,” Blue mutters. He summons ice into his right arm and throws it out, blasting a beam of ice that doesn’t even faze the pyro as he continues his stride forward. 

“Seriously, you do know that fire beats ice, every time, right?” Burnout laughs. 

_There’s a way to beat him,_ says a deep voice in Blue’s head. It sounds annoyingly familiar. _Use it._

“Never,” Blue chastises himself. He’s so distracted doesn’t have time to dodge the fireball that hits him right in the chest, knocking him back. 

_Use. It._ Again, Blue ignores the voice as he gets to his feet, patting out the small flame that nearly started on his chest. 

Burnout rolls his shoulders. “I wonder...would Endeavor show up if I killed one of you Rangers? Let’s find out!” He charges forward, flames intensifying with each step. 

This time, Blue goes on the offensive, creating a small slide of ice underneath his feet. Just before he can be grabbed, he ducks low and delivers a solid uppercut to his enemy’s jaw that forces him to stumble back. He goes for another punch that connects to the chest, and the fire around Burnout’s arms starts to dim. With his right hand, Blue starts at Burnout’s underarm and slides down the right side of his body, covering it in a soft sheen of ice that starts to cover him. 

Unable to move, Burnout swings his left fist towards Blue, but he catches it with his palm. The two stare each other down as they have their battle of strength. Then Burnout grins and channels flame into his fist. Instead of letting go in pain, something else happens to the Blue Ranger. 

Both of them stop to watch as the flame wraps around Blue’s open palm. The fire burns the sleeve of his suit before receding into his arm and vanishing as though it were never there. Astonished, Burnout looks towards his heroic enemy and asks: “What the hell _are_ you?” 

Blue opts to let his fist do the talking, slugging the pyromaniac in the jaw and knocking him out. “I’m complicated.” 

* * *

**Ground Beta. Later.**

After ensuring that the firefighters and paramedics would be able to handle everything else, along with keeping an eye on Burnout until a pair of power suppressing handcuffs could be procured, the six Rangers returned to their headquarters. At the moment, Yaoyorozu and Midoriya are chatting...something, possibly about making a database of the villains they’ve faced thus far. 

Shoto isn’t paying attention, because he feels wrong. His left arm still stings from Burnout’s fire, and even icing it down did nothing to quell the sensation. He tries to will the pain away, but ends up wincing when he feels the heat spread through his body. 

The noise doesn’t go unnoticed by Kirishima standing next to him. “You alright, man?” Kirishima frowns. “You don’t look so good.” 

“I’m fine,” Shoto shakes his head. He exhales, and a small tuft of fire emerges from his lips. His eyes go slightly wide at the sight. 

Clearly, he’s not the only one surprised by the flames, as Uraraka asks, “Are you sure, Todoroki? You did take some heat from that guy while we handled the fires.” 

“Maybe you should sit down,” Iida suggests, walking over to him. One of his large hands tries to go to Shoto’s shoulder, but the two-toned boy smacks it away. “Ow! Todoroki, forgive me for saying this, but that felt red hot!”

“I said, I’m fine,” he repeats. “I just need....I need to....” He takes two more steps, and then he feels himself go sideways before he hits the ground. “I....”

“TODOROKI!” 

“Dude?!” 

Shoto can’t speak, he can’t do anything. His body feels unusually warm, and his throat feels like it’s been burned to nothing. He can’t even keep his eyes open. Everything hurts, it feels like he’s about to explode. “G....g...get...”

Someone, possibly Yaoyorozu?, rolls him over so he’s laying on his back. He can hear everyone’s hushed whispers as they presumably crowd over him. “Todoroki, look at me,” she urges. “Can you look at me? Did you get hurt during the fight?”

He shakes his head, or at least he tries to. Even doing that feels awful, like there’s a million hot coals fused to his face. He feels so damn hot, this makes no sense. This has never happened before. Shoto raises his right hand as high as he can, which likely isn’t much. He’s still stuttering as it twitches. “G-g-g...” 

“What?” 

Fighting the pain in his body, loud as he can, Shoto declares: **“GET BACK!”** His hand slams onto the floor, creating ice that wraps around him completely like a cocoon. 

_“Todoroki? Todoroki, can you hear us?! Todoroki?!”_ The muffled words of Yaoyorozu, or the banging on his cocoon, barely register to the elemental boy.

Unable to do anything else, Shoto lets sleep overcome him.

* * *

**  
Cooldown Period**

**Izuku Midoriya • Ochaco Uraraka • Tenya Iida • Shoto Todoroki • Momo Yaoyorozu • Eijiro Kirishima**

* * *

_Shoto’s eyes burst open. He breathes heavily as he takes in everything around him -- only, there’s nothing. No Yaoyorozu, no Iida, no anything. It’s just him._

Where am I? _The thought echoes in this blank space, almost like he’s in a cave._ How did I get here? _He runs a hand through his hair as he tries to gather his thoughts. The fight...the fire coursing through his body..._

Figures, _he thinks with a scowl. His father’s power would lead him to this._ But now, the only question remains: how to get out of here....wherever here is?

 _“Shoto?” He looks around for the source of the voice, a woman. But there's_ _nothing to see in all this darkness. “Shooooooutooooooooo? Where arrrrrrre youuuuuuu?”_

Wait. That voice, _he thinks. It can’t be._

_All it takes is a single blink of his eyes, and Shoto is in a room. Before he can begin to take in this new location, he catches something moving from the corner of his eye, wrapped tightly in a bed sheet. Cautiously, he walks over to it, ready to pull the sheets back. But instead his hand passes clean through it like it’s nothing._

_He’s about to try again when he hears that voice again, a playful tilt to its voice. “Oh, where could Shoto be? Hmmm, I wonder.”_

_The woman steps into the room, and Shoto’s blood goes cold. Standing in the doorway with hair as white as snow and a serene smile on her face is no one other than Rei Todoroki._

_His mother._

_So shocked Shoto is that he can’t move out of the way as she literally passes through him, going over to the bed sheet in the middle of the room. Rei kneels down to the bundle, her fingers idly strumming the sheets. Whatever’s inside it starts shaking. “Shoto isn’t with his siblings....and he_ isn’t _in the front room...oh, well!” Rei says, pretending to sound dejected. “I suppose I’ll just wait for him here!” Dramatically, she leans back on the bundle, applying just enough pressure for it to be overbearing for the thing -- or rather, the child -- inside._

_The muffled laughs of 4-year-old Shoto Todoroki soon break out as the child slips out of his makeshift hiding spot. “You found me!” the child cries, poking his mother in her cheek._

_“I did?!” Rei pretends to gasp. “I forgot all about you!”_

_“But mooooooooom! You said--” He’s cut off as Rei sweeps her son into her arms, peppering him with kisses all over her cheek. The greedy child he is, he takes these kisses happily, even giving one to her when she finally relents. “Now you’ll never forget me!”_

_His mother laughs. It’s been so long since Shoto, it sounds so foreign to him. “Oh, Shoto,” his mother says, stroking his cheek. “I could never forget you.” The boy preens under the words, followed by wonder as Rei stage whispers, “Now, how about we get some ice cream? Hmm?”_

_“I like ice cream!” The young Todoroki shouts, eliciting another peal of laughter from Rei._

_All Shoto can do is watch as his younger self is picked up by his mother, the two of them leaving his room for the kitchen. Something in his body is aching to see more of this day, so he takes two steps forward--_

_And then he’s back in the void, the only remnant of what he saw being the echoing laughter he heard just moments ago._

_“Mom?” he calls out. “Mom!”_

_There is no answer._

Why would I see that? _He thinks._ _There was nothing special, it was just an ordinary day._

_“That’s not true,” Shoto mutters. “No, that, that was perfect. It was one of the most perfect days of my life...before.” He looks down at his Gem-covered wrist and frowns, thinking back to the day he found this blasted rock in his parents’ keepsakes._

_“Shoooooooooto!”_

_His head shoots up as he looks for the source of the voice. It doesn’t sound like his mother this time. It’s too whiny, almost like it’s pleading._

_He blinks and yet again, he’s taken back home, watching his younger self. Unlike the previous memory, this day he remembers perfectly._

_The young Todoroki, now 5 as of a few weeks ago, sits in the bathtub, knees curled to his chest. There’s loud pounding on the door, but he pays it no mind, screwing his eyes shut and trying to block out the world. “Go away!”_

_It’s his brother, Natsuo, who yells through the door. “Shoto! C’mon, open up, we just wanna talk! ‘Yumi’s not mad, and neither am I!”_

_He turns to the door, shouting as loud as his childish voice will allow. “I said, go AWAY!” As the last word leaves his lips, a burst of ice erupts from his mouth, freezing the door solid. Terrified at what he’s just done, the boy pulls the shower curtain to hide himself. One of his hands covers his mouth completely. _

_Shoto walks over to his younger self. There’s no way to interact with this childish facsimile, so all he can do is just get in the tub with him, sitting in the exact same position as he did all those years ago. Something about this is comforting in all its absurdity, he finds. And then he sighs, because he knows what happens next._

_There’s a louder knock at the door, and then a much deeper voice speaks. “Shoto. Open this door, right now.” A beat passes before the voice speaks again. “Can you hear me in there? Quit screwing around and open the door!”_

_Shoto finds himself mimicking the words of his younger counterpart, albeit without as much emotion. “I can’t!” (“I can’t.”)_

_Another beat. “What do you mean, you can’t?”_

_His younger self pushes the curtain back to make his voice clearer. “I-i-it’s frozen!”_

_There’s a moment of muffled discussion coming from the other end of the door. And then, the much more soothing voice of Rei comes through. “Shoto? I need you to stay calm, sweetie. Can you do that for me?”_

_He nods, before realizing that his mother can’t see him, so he speaks an affirmative. Shoto -- both of him -- watches as the ice covering the door slowly melts into a puddle gathering at the foot of the door. Hesitantly, the younger of the two leaves the bathtub just as the door opens. Rei takes a step forward, and the boy steps back, afraid._

_Rei kneels down to her son’s level, worried. “Shoto?” She offers a hand. “It’s okay, I’m here.”_

_Predictably, he shakes his head. “I did something bad,” the boy sniffles. “I, I don’t know how!”_

_“Shoto, it’s okay. Believe me, it’s more than okay.” She chuckles. “I promise, I’ll explain everything, I just need you to take my hand.” She moves forward, ever so slightly._

_Startled, young Todoroki backs away, accidentally throwing his left hand out in shock. It’s not a blue beam coming out of his hand, as had been the case with his mouth. No, instead, it’s a small burst of flames, heading right for Rei--_

_But then a large hand catches the flame before it hits her. Gingerly, the hand lifts the flame up to the face of Enji Todoroki, who studies it with wonder and shock. But there’s also a third emotion on Enji’s face, one the young Todoroki can’t decipher, but the adult Shoto knows all too well._

_Victory._

_Shoto watches as his young self tentatively reaches a half towards the flame. “No, don’t-!” He doesn’t know why he reaches out with his left hand when he can’t interact with these memories, but he does. He can’t stop what’s already happened, by dammit he will try._

_When his fingers touch the fire, the flames leave the copy of his father and wrap around his entire arm. And before he can so much as blink, the fire covers Shoto entirely. Like a human torch, he becomes engulfed in the fire as he flooded with words and images he can’t fully comprehend._

**“-I WANT TO SEE WHY HE SACRIFICED ME FOR Y—“** (Who was sacrificed?)

 **“—YOU DARE HOLD BACK!”** (When would he _ever_ hold back? What kind of threat is that?)

 **“—soner of your lineage.”** (Mother. Where are you? When did I forget you?)

 **“--T’S YOUR POWER, TODOROKI!!!”** (It sounds like Midoriya...why would he say this?)

_The fire around Shoto recedes until it has returned to his left hand. Looking at it, he swears that it turned blue, but he blinks and it is once again red-orange. It feels like it’s taunting him. “Why? Why show me this? Why bring me here?”_

_He isn’t expecting an answer in this empty space, which makes it all the more surprising when there is one. Something in this void speaks, a mix of his own voice and his father’s, and it unnerves him to no end. “You need to see.”_

_“See what?”_

_“What we can be.” The voice sounds much closer than before, and Shoto turns around to come face to face with...himself. His duplicate looks exactly like him, right down to the clothing. “Use me, Shoto.” The doppelganger walks towards him, left hand out. “It’s time. We can’t deny our blood any longer.”_

_No longer confused, Shoto looks at this doppelganger with apprehension. “Use you? I don’t even know what you are.”_

_“I think we both know you're smarter than this.” The doppelganger snaps his fingers. The fire previously in Shoto’s hand goes to him, draped over his left side almost like a cape._

_Shoto’s mouth goes slack as he processes the sight before him. Still, his doppelganger continues. “When we were fighting that worthless villain, you absorbed his fire without even thinking. It felt...” He takes a big inhale before releasing a fiery exhale, a smile on his lips. “Intoxicating. For the first time in years, I felt alive. And I want more of it.”_

_Shoto clenches his fists. “Not happening.” He has the feeling that this Flame Todoroki -- he doesn’t know what else to call him -- is about to start a fight._

_“Ah yes, your_ vow _,” Flame spits the word out with contempt. “No flames during combat, a way to stick it to the old man.” He snorts._

_The environment around them shifts, turning into a museum of memories, all of them playing similar moments on a loop. Enji towering him when he couldn’t have been much older than 5 or 6. “Stand up! If you get hurt that easily, you can forget about beating All Might, or a small time villain.”_

_Shoto’s blood runs cold. “Stop.” He warns._

_Another memory, another of his father. “I’m going to teach you to do great things, Shoto. To become my ultimate legacy.”_

_His voice becomes more forceful, more desperate. “Don’t do this.”_

_Memories of Enji surround Shoto the voices intermingling to the point where he feels like he’s losing his mind._

_(When his father told him the truth.) “Your destiny is to surpass me and All Might as the ultimate hero.”_

_(When his mother left.) “She hurt my masterpiece, so I put her in a hospital.”_

_(The day his father decided to begin his mission.) “ I will teach you to master your flame, Shoto.”_

_“_ Stop,” Shoto pleads. 

_Flame slowly walks toward him, calm as can be. “Try all you like, Shoto. You can fight against the bastard all you want, but I’m inescapable. You can’t deny me.” There’s no traces of Father’s voice in his words. It’s his own voice speaking back to him._

_“Stop it.”_

_“There will come a day where your ice will be weak, where this hand ignites. And when it does...”_

_“Please!”_

_“I will have won. And you’ll be mine.”_

**“ENOUGH!!!”**

_At once, all the memories stop. Shoto looks down at his hands, trembling before falling to his knees. Were it possible in his own mind, he would vomit from the overwhelming sensation alone._

_Not having a care in the world, Flame Todoroki chuckles darkly. “Had enough yet?” Shoto says nothing. “I know you don’t want to admit it, but the old man’s right. We had our fun with the other Rangers, but we’re better than them. We’re above them. It’s time we embrace who we are.”_

_Shoto tilts his head up, looking at his counterpart. His hair has stuck to this face from sweat, and he looks like he just went through hell, but he still finds the ability to speak. “You’re right. I need to embrace who I am.”_

_Flame smirks. “I’m glad you decided to listen to reason.” He offers his left hand, and Shoto takes it with his right. Once back on his feet, the two stare each other down. And then Flame exhales, looking down at his breath._

_It’s ice cold._

_Shoto’s fingers press into the inner forearm of his other half. Ice slowly begins to surround him, and try as he might, Flame cannot summon any fire to melt it into water. “What are you doing?”_

_“Embracing who I am,” Shoto repeats, pressing harder. “I am_ not _Enji Todoroki’s son. I am_ not _his pawn or his legacy. I won't be the fire he wants me to be. And you will never be used in a fight."_

_Flame Todoroki’s breath hitches as the ice nearly encases him completely. “You...need me...” He weakly argues. Whatever he tries saying next is lost as the freezing is complete._

_“No,” Shoto says with finality. “I don’t.” His right hand still icy, he brings it to the left side of his face._

_And with that, the inner flame of Shoto Todoroki has been snuffed out._

* * *

For the past hour, Yaoyorozu and the other four Rangers have been trying to find a way to get Todoroki out of his icy prison -- if it could even be called that -- to no avail. Uraraka suggested calling Mr. Aizawa, but his power required eye contact that wasn’t feasible. Iida and Kirishima suggested breaking it open, with the latter and Midoriya attempting to pry it open while Iida joined her and Uraraka in using ice picks. All that resulted was the cocoon regenerating with additional layers of ice. 

Midoriya, fed up, had suggested he and Kirishima punch it open, which Yaoyorozu and Iida shot down immediately. Not only was he still fairly new to his power, there was the risk of hurting Todoroki. 

Needless to say, everyone was more than a little frustrated with the situation. Midoriya, in fact, was currently pacing back and forth in front of the cocoon. “Okay,” he starts, “what if we call another Ranger?”

Yaoyorozu raises an eyebrow. “Who, though? We only know two of them, and I doubt All Might has much experience with this.”

“Not true! There was that Ice Ranger, Snowblind! But she...disappeared...years ago.” All the energy deflates out of Midoriya like a balloon. “Crap.”

Uraraka gives him a pity pat on the back. It was a nice idea, however short lived. 

“Uh, guys?” Kirishima points at the cocoon, which starts to tremble. Midoriya runs over to join the others, eyeing it warily as it intensifies. 

Iida takes a fighting stance. “Get ready,” he warns. "just in case." Everyone takes stances of their own. 

A hand shoots out of the cocoon, covered in ice. There’s a collective confusion among them all as Todoroki exits his cocoon, looking justas he did before he collapsed...minus the part where the left side of his face, all the way down to his shoes, are covered in ice. His left eye glows red, giving him the appearance of an intimidating cyborg rather than a person. 

“T...Todoroki?” Kirishima calls out. “You okay, man?”

The ice user regards them all for a moment before simply saying, “Never better.” He reaches back with his left hand, melting the cocoon (and his weird ice armor) in no time at all. 

“Apologies for before,” Shoto nods at his teammates. They’re still in battle positions, but lighten up once it’s clear they won’t be attacking their friend. 

“It’s okay,” Iida says, though it sounds more like a question. “We’re just glad you’re not hurt.”

“What exactly, uh, happened in there?” Uraraka asks. 

Shoto’s answer is frustratingly vague. “Just had to come to terms with some things.” He moves around them and makes his way to the door. 

Just as it opens, Yaoyorozu calls out to him, “Todoroki, are you certain everything’s alright?”

Shoto comes to a stop. He looks down at his left hand. Nothing comes out of it. 

“I’m fine,” he repeats, and this time he means it. “I just needed a nap.” 

And he leaves, the door slamming shut behind him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of my favorite chapters to do. 
> 
> Todoroki is one of my favorite characters and I knew I wanted his solo chapter to be a little weirder, more cerebral given how emotionally closed off he is from everyone. I needed a way to dig into who he is prior to him blabbing off to Deku. Making the sort of fire side of him be almost sentient and trying to "break free" was a late addition when I realized that he needed a way to firmly keep that side of him in check until he begins using fire later on. 
> 
> I can say for certain that the next chapter will be Kirishima, because his is about 60-70% done, writing wise. Be well!

**Author's Note:**

> So...this is happening.
> 
> The short version is that over the years,  
> I’ve started to get back into Power Rangers thanks to the movie (still underrated), the comics, and listening to old theme songs. Recently I started thinking about how cool it would be to pair the two together and this was born.
> 
> To answer a question I’m sure will come up right away: this is a world where there are no superheroes that exist except for the Rangers. I’m excited to see where this goes; I have a solid idea of what I want to do and who’s going to be included. I’ll try to have a larger post explaining some things in greater detail, so stay tuned.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
